“Dean’s Choir Day in Tailfingen: Theresa Hinz conducts a huge choir to top sounds”

Such great choral enjoyment is rare: on the Dean’s Choir Day of the Catholic Dean’s Office in Balingen, around 150 church choir singers filled the Church of St. Elisabeth with a fantastic sound.

The musical host of the Bauhaus Church is deanery church musician Theresa Hinz, who conducted the unusually large choir and chose an equally unusual program. The title was “Evensong”: The musical evening prayer has its tradition in the Anglican Church, but is also becoming increasingly popular in this country.

At the beginning of the evening prayer, which Alexander Rohm accompanied on the organ, Pastor Hans-Joachim Fogl proved that his voice can keep up with even that of the best choral singers, and quoted Saint Augustine: “Who sings, prays twice!”

The performers did so, and intoned rarely sung works, such as John Goss’s hymn to the sun “Lord, you praise the creatures,” Chris Artley’s “The Lord is My Shepherd,” Margaret Rizza’s “Magnificat,” and “Nunc dimittis in B-flat major.” by Charles Gounod. They were accompanied by trumpeters Andreas Thullner and Michael Hämmerle and trombonists Haily Bischoff and Flavio Panacci.

Robert Volkmann’s “Our Father” was followed as the highlight by John Rutter’s “Jesus Christ is the Rock” – particularly beautiful. No wonder, after all, the active participants had rehearsed all afternoon – and for the first time since 2019 they all met again at the Dean’s Choir Day in St. Elisabeth.