Olaf Katzer
Choirmaster
Olaf Katzer has been the conductor of the Dresden Chamber Choir since 2011. In addition to his own concerts, he leads rehearsals for Hans-Christoph Rademann, Vaclav Luks, Simon Halsey, Reinhard Goebel, Christian Thielemann, Stefan Parkman, Herve Niquet and Christopher Hogwood at festivals such as the Salzburg Festival, Bachwoche Ansbach and the Dresden Music Festival. He also designed the “Dresdner Chorwerkstatt für Neue Musik” of the Dresden Chamber Choir.
Born in 1980 in Mettmann, Rhineland, Olaf Katzer studied music and psychology in Munich, Weimar and Dresden. While still a student, Olaf Katzer founded the ensemble AUDITIVVOKAL DRESDEN, which he still leads artistically and musically today. Over 50 world premieres, guest appearances at numerous festivals and radio recordings at the MDR, Deutschlandradio, Radio Suisse Romande and Deutschlandfunk document his commitment to contemporary vocal art. Through interdisciplinary collaborations between singers, dancers, composers, painters, directors and scientists, he develops a contemporary musical expression with the “New Dresden Vocal School”. This work has led to invitations from the RIAS Chamber Choir, the SWR Vocal Ensemble, singers of the Dresden State Opera Choir and the choir of the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival. Instrumental partners in concerts are the Dresdner Barockorchester, the Elblandphilharmonie Sachsen, the Ensemble Junge Musik Berlin and the ensemble Moto Perpetuo New York. Concert tours have taken him to almost all European countries as well as Taiwan, China and the USA.
The Dresdner Kammerchor is one of the leading German choirs. Since its foundation in 1985 by Hans-Christoph Rademann, it has become an institution in German and European musical life. Its work focuses on Dresden and Saxon Baroque music, the choral symphonies of classical and romantic music, sophisticated a cappella literature of the 19th and 20th centuries, as well as the study of new and newest vocal music.
