La Chapelle Rhénane

Founded in 2001, La Chapelle Rhénane is a group of soloists who devote themselves to reinterpretations of the great vocal works, with the aim of revealing the emotion, humanity and modernity which will enable them to attract today’s cosmopolitan audiences. The group takes advantage of its favourable location in Strasbourg to engage musicians from all over Europe. Directed by its founder, the tenor Benoît Haller, La Chapelle Rhénane took on Jean-François Felter as an associate in 2003 to bring it additional artistic and technical support and skills. Five CDs were released on the K617 label: one devoted to Samuel Capricornus, three to Heinrich Schütz - the Symphoniæ Sacræ II (2004), the Uppsala Magnificat (2006), and the Resurrection History and Musikalische Exequien (2007) - and finally, in 2008, Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu Nostri with the Maîtrise de Garçons de Colmar (direction Arlette Steyer). These recordings won multiple awards. After an activity closely linked to the output of Schütz, the ensemble began tackling the music of Bach, notably by way of the St John Passion - culminating in this recording - and, in 2009, the St Matthew Passion, which will be followed by a production of the Christmas Oratorio in autumn 2010. The group has appeared in the major French venues, such as the Cité de la Musique in Paris and the Arsenal in Metz, and at leading international festivals. La Chapelle Rhénane receives support from the Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication - DRAC Alsace, the Alsace Region, and the City of Strasbourg. Other key partners have also given it their confidence, notably the Fondation Orange, the Fondation Royaumont - Centre de la Voix, and Les Gémeaux - Scène Nationale de Sceaux (direction Françoise Letellier).

After beginning his musical training in Alsace, Benoît Haller studied choral and orchestral conducting with Hans Michael Beuerle at the Musikhochschule in Freiburg im Breisgau, where he was awarded his higher diploma with the jury’s congratulations in 1996. Masterclasses with personalities like Eric Ericson, Pierre Cao and Frieder Bernius completed his training. In parallel with this he studied singing in Strasbourg with Hélène Roth, and from 1997 onwards with Beata Heuer-Christen, Gerd Heinz and Hans Peter Müller at the Musikhochschule of Freiburg, where he performed the role of Ferrando in Così fan tutte (2000) and the title role in Britten’s Albert Herring (2002). During these years, tours with ensembles like Collegium Vocale Gent (Philippe Herreweghe) and the Kammerchor Stuttgart (Frieder Bernius) took him all over Europe, Asia, and the USA. As a singer, he makes regular appearances in opera, particularly Baroque (Handel’s Almira, Purcell’s King Arthur), and is a noted interpreter of the Passions and cantatas of Bach as well as the major choral works of Mozart, Haydn, Mendelssohn, and Berlioz. He has recorded music by Schütz (Akadêmia/Françoise Lasserre), Rosenmüller (Cantus Cölln/Konrad Junghänel), Telemann (Balthasar Neumann Ensemble/Thomas Hengelbrock), Mozart (Peter Neumann), and Gossec (Jean-Claude Malgoire). In 2001, Benoît Haller founded La Chapelle Rhénane to bring together French and German musician friends. He has directed the ensemble ever since. He also pursues a career as guest conductor: for example, in May 2009 he conducted the Orchestre Régional de Bayonne-Côte Basque in C. P. E. Bach’s Die letzten Leiden des Erlösers.

Julian Prégardien, born in 1984, studied in Freiburg im Breisgau and has been a company member at the Frankfurt Opera since the 2009-10 season. While he was still a student, concerts and operas took him around the world (Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Folle Journée de Nantes, Tonhalle Zürich, Kölner Philharmonie, Theater an der Wien, Opéra de Monte Carlo, Teatro Arriaga in Bilbao). Two of his recordings won awards, at the Midem in 2007 and the Orphée d’Or in 2009. Julian Prégardien pays special attention to historical practice and the personal coloration he can bring to a work. His interpretations are inspired not only by conductors like René Jacobs, Jérémie Rhorer and Benoît Haller, but also by his father Christoph Prégardien. He is planning to expand his repertoire with twentieth-century works and above all the leading Mozart roles thanks to his collaboration with Sebastian Weigle, director of the Frankfurt Opera. He appears regularly in recital with the pianist Götz Payer, notably at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival and the Menuhin Festival in Gstaad, as well as his father and Michael Gees, the latter’s longstanding partner. The Prégardien/Payer duo takes part in the charity project ‘Wiegenlieder’, which has made a great impact in Germany.

Tanya Aspelmeier studied at the Hamburg Musikhochschule, then in Annecy. She now works with Margreet Honig. A prizewinner at several leading singing competitions, she performs many roles at the opera houses in Oldenburg and Hamburg, whether Baroque (Rameau, Lully, Handel, Monteverdi, Telemann), Mozartian, or contemporary (Henze), and sings in concert throughout Europe and in Asia and South America, and at the festivals of Baden-Baden, Bayreuth, Salzburg, Saintes, Sydney, Vienna, etc. Having acquired significant experience of early music with such conductors as Frieder Bernius, Ivor Bolton, Thomas Hengelbrock and Konrad Junghänel, she teaches singing in Bremen and directs masterclasses in Europe and in Asia.

A graduate of the CNSM in Paris, Salomé Haller soon carved out a place on the Baroque scene with conductors including Martin Gester, Jean-Claude Malgoire, Christophe Rousset, and René Jacobs. Under such varied personalities as Armin Jordan, Pierre Boulez, Peter Eötvös and Marc Minkowski she tackles a very wide repertoire, while giving an important role to chamber music, notably with the pianist Nicolas Krüger. This eclectic itinerary marked by numerous recordings and a Victoire de la Musique award in 2003 has taken her all over Europe (including the operas of Berlin, Paris, Brussels, and Barcelona) and to Asia and the USA.

Pascal Bertin began singing at the age of eleven. In 1988 he won a premier prix for Baroque vocal interpretation at the CNSM in Paris. His career is divided between groups specialising in medieval and Renaissance polyphony, and Baroque oratorio and opera which he practises with its leading exponents, most recently William Christie and Ton Koopman. His operatic engagements have taken him to Paris, Geneva, Amsterdam and Salzburg and as far afield as Chicago, New York, and Tokyo. Since 1996 he has been a member, with Monique Zanetti and Yasunori Imamura, of the ensemble Fons Musicae. He has made more than seventy recordings.

After studying at the Maîtrise de Colmar, Julien Freymuth specialised in Baroque singing at the Centre de Musique Baroque and the Conservatoire in Versailles (graduating in 2005 and 2007 respectively). He has already appeared under the direction of the most eminent conductors of Baroque music in several countries of Europe, and with the Cappella Pratensis in the domain of Netherlandish polyphony, notably on a tour of the USA in 2008 (Obrecht’s Missa ‘O beate pater Donatiane’). In the same year he gave a recital of German music at the Saint-Riquier Festival. He regularly sings the Bach cantatas and passions with La Chapelle Rhénane.

Michael Feyfar studied at the Knabenkantorei in Basel, the Hochschule für Musik und Theater of Berne/Biel, with Donald Litaker in Karlsruhe, then from 2006 at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis and in masterclasses with Jakob Stämpfli, Hans-Peter Blochwitz, and Christoph Prégardien. He sings regularly in Switzerland and abroad, notably in the works of Bach and in a wide oratorio repertoire. He also practises the lied and opera, with notable roles in Tinguely’s La Machine rêve (premiere), Britten’s The Little Sweep, and Die Zauberflöte (Tamino). He is a scholarship holder of the Ernst Göhner Foundation and the Migros Federation.

Benoît Arnould studied at the conservatoires of Metz, then Nancy, winning a gold medal, an interregional higher diploma and a premier prix de perfectionnement in opera singing in 2007, the year he was nominated as ‘classical vocal discovery’ by the Adami. Alongside the operatic stage (the premiere of Thierry Pécou’s Les Sacrifiées), he has a particular predilection for oratorio and sacred music, which he sings with Hervé Niquet, Vincent Dumestre, Franck-Emmanuel Comte and Martin Gester at such festivals as La Chaise-Dieu, St-Riquier, Sablé-sur-Sarthe, Ambronay, Rheingau, Schwetzingen, Klagenfurt, Seville, and Fez, as well as Washington (Library of Congress). He has made several recordings.

Dominik Wörner studied in Stuttgart, Freiburg and Berne, notably with Jakob Stämpfli. His first prize in the Leipzig Bach Competition in 2002 opened up an international career. He now sings with leading conductors in all the European countries and in the USA, Asia, and Australia, especially in the music of Bach: the year 2010 will see him on a European tour of the cantatas with Collegium Vocale Gent and the Freiburger Barockorchester. Among his recordings, a recent Winterreise (ARS-Produktion) was enthusiastically received by the press. A popular artist in Japan, he is co-founder and artistic director of the German-Japanese forum on the lied.