The Ernst Senff Choir has become an institution in Berlin’s cultural life. At the beginning of the 1960s Professor Ernst Senff directed a choir at Berlin’s music conservatory (Hochschule) in addition to his duties as chorusmaster of the Municipal Opera (now Deutsche Oper). At this time, the Ernst Senff Chamber Choir, which specialized in unaccompanied works, made a number of radio recordings at SFB (Sender Freies Berlin). The choir’s accomplishments soon led to concerts with the Berlin Philharmonic, the Berlin Radio Symphony (now Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester), and other orchestras, and provided the opportunity to work with internationally prominent conductors. All choir members are trained musicians. The ensemble’s repertoire ranges across the entire choral-symphonic literature of the 18th to 20th centuries, with a special emphasis on contemporary works. The choir, with up to 120 singers, depending on the work being performed, appears not only in Berlin but also in other German cities, and it has traveled to Israel and Austria. On Senff’s retirement, in 1990, Sigurd Brauns was appointed by the choir as his successor.
