Leo Bögeholz Gründer is the new festival director of the Chorbiennale 2027: He was significantly involved in the organization of the International Chorbiennale Aachen in 2023 and 2025 as project and event manager. He has many years of experience as a choirmaster and musician. The cooperation agreement with Kulturbetrieb Aachen and Stadttheater Aachen/Musikdirektion has now been signed for the International Choir Biennale from May 20 - 29, 2027. "We are delighted to have an experienced festival director for the 9th Chorbiennale in Leo Bögeholz Gründer, who has already been a well-established member of the Aachen team for three years," emphasizes Irit Tirtey, Managing Director of Kulturbetrieb Aachen.

"Singing in a choir means, on the one hand, intensive personal involvement with your own instrument, voice and body, as well as with the repertoire. On the other hand, choral music is an expression of community, of compromise and of merging into a common instrument. This duality inspires me very much: the individual and the intimate in the collective body of sound," says the new Chorbiennale director, explaining what inspires him personally about choral music.

What is certainly challenging about the festival management is that all possible strands of the festival organization come together in the organizational festival management. "Coordinating the various committees and organizational areas, formulating and delegating tasks can be a real challenge in view of the complexity of the festival in addition to the actual content-related work," emphasizes Bögeholz Gründer.

Leo Bögeholz Gründer studied vocal pedagogy and school music (majoring in percussion) at the HfMT Cologne and has been supplementing his profile with a Master's degree in singing at the RSH Düsseldorf since 2025. He began taking percussion and piano lessons as a child. Practical experience in choirs, orchestras, big bands and ensembles shaped his musical education, as did further lessons in classical percussion, jazz piano and preparatory studies. Numerous choral and ensemble projects as well as solo roles characterize his work as a singer, and a large number of opera projects are an expression of his scenic orientation. He is also active as a vocal coach and choir director as well as a percussionist in classical, contemporary and popular music contexts. His artistic, educational and cross-genre work is particularly close to his heart and is an expression of his versatile training. Since 2014, he has gained experience in the field of cultural mediation and management at the Association of German Music Schools and the Deutsche Streicherphilharmonie, among others, and was significantly involved in the organization of the International Chorbiennale Aachen in 2023 and 2025 as project and event manager.

"Unlike other choral events in Germany, the Chorbiennale is not a competition, which makes for a very special atmosphere. In addition, we invite top ensembles on the one hand and at the same time amateur choirs take part in the festival, not in a hierarchical way, but on an equal footing alongside and with each other. I also think it's fantastic that the Chorbiennale is intergenerational," says Leo Bögeholz founder, explaining what he thinks makes the event so extraordinary.

He is very excited about his new role as festival director: "As I know music events from both sides, as a participant, professional singer and choir director and in the last two editions of the Chorbiennale also at the event level alongside the previous festival director Maximilian Stössel, I am familiar with many procedures, processes and structures. As festival director of a music festival, I therefore not only have an eye on the numbers, but also on the musicians, whereby the artistic direction is the responsibility of the choirmasters of the five Aachen initiative choirs. In addition, there is continuity and regional anchoring."

The regional connection is particularly important to the new festival director. In addition, the further development of the existing formats: "I would like to think carefully about how far this festival can continue to grow or which innovations should be included against the background of financial limitations. It would be nice to get the young singing generation - school choirs, but also the university - more involved in the overall festival, also in encounters with the guest choirs in the sense of overlapping worlds. Singing together during the festival is also important to me. It should become more institutionalized beyond the Chorbi Lounge in the evenings and appeal to even more people to sing in the community.

The award-winning choirs of the Aachen
Choral Biennale perform alongside top international ensembles; professional choirs such as the WDR Radio Choir Cologne take the stage, and sophisticated choral concerts form the core of the festival. Choral-symphonic performances with the Aachen Symphony Orchestra are dedicated to a grand work from the choral repertoire, lunch concerts provide magical moments at midday, satellite concerts and the “Evening of the City Region” offer a glimpse into the region, and the “Long Choir Night” with the midnight “Farewell” in front of City Hall brings together the large, impressive community of choral artists from Aachen and its surroundings. Every two years, enthusiastic singers fill an entire city with song for two weeks. All of this under a guiding theme.

For more information, visit www.chorbiennale.de.