For many years now the radio choir of the SWR broadcasting corporation has been one of the world’s leading professional choir ensembles and over its 70-year history has sung more premieres than any other choir – many of these conducted by Rupert Huber who was Chief Conductor of the ensemble from 1990 to 2000. In addition to New Music the SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart is also dedicated to demanding and unknown choral works from older periods – in particular from the Romantic and Classical Modern eras. Since 2003 Marcus Creed has been Artistic Director of the SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart and under his leadership the ensemble has received multiple awards for its interpretations of chamber music and style-assured performances.
For its production of Bruckner’s E Minor Mass and a selection of motets the SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart was voted “Ensemble of the Year” in 2009 and received the Echo Klassik “Choral Production of the Year” award in 2011 and 2012. It was also presented the “European Choral Prize” from the Pro Europa Cultural Foundation for its pioneering commitment to contemporary vocal music in 2011. At the end of 2014 it received the renowned annual German Record Critics’ Prize for its recording of Georges Aperghis’ Wölffli Cantata and on October 18 the SWR Vokalensemble Stuttgart was for the first time presented with Echo Klassik’s Classics for Children prize for the children’s radio play Des Kaisers Nachtigall (The Nightingale).