Kinder- und Jugendchor
Ever since its foundation in 1992/1993, the Children’s and Youth Choir with its more than 130 members has become a fixture of Bonn’s theatre scene. Following Ilse Hirschner, Karoline Philippi and Florian Pestell, Ekaterina Klewitz became the choir’s director in 2007.
Whether they are playing street urchins in CARMEN and LA BOHÈME, altar boys and girls in TOSCA, Charlotte’s siblings in WERTHER, three spirit children in DIE ZAUBERFLÖTE or Baron Ochs’ planted children in DER ROSENKAVALIER – the Children’s Choir brings the stage to life. From the outset, the choir and its soloists have contributed to numerous productions at Theater Bonn and stood in the limelight on around 100 operatic evening per season.
Beside its main task, participating in large opera and musical theatre productions, the choir has been performing its own productions since 1999/2000, such as the children’s operas APOLLO UND HYAZINTH by Mozart, Ravel’s DAS KIND UND DER ZAUBERSPUK, Britten’s DER KLEINE SCHORNSTEINFEGER and, most recently, Hans Krása’s BRUNDIBÁR and FAUST – a musical dream play based on Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. These productions showcase the choir’s talents and enchant not only their young audiences.
The Children’s and Youth Choir also performs far beyond the walls of the Bonn opera, with multiple concerts and guest performances per season, including concerts for WDR, at Cologne’s Philharmonie, at Konzerthaus Dortmund, at the Kameha Grand Bonn Hotel or at the World Conference Center Bonn.
In the autumn of 2019, the Children’s and Youth Choir was nominated for »Der beste Chor im Westen (The best choir in the West)«, the largest choir competition in North Rhine-Westphalia. Ekaterina Klewitz and 46 of her choir members successfully reached the semi-finals on 6 December 2019. The performances were broadcast by WDR-Television.
On 24 October 2020, the Children’s and Youth Choir received the Advancement Prize of »Verein der Opernfreunde e.V.«, the friends’ association of Oper Bonn, which came with a sum of 3,000 €. The prize was awarded in the context of the premiere of FAUST. With this award, the association honoured the Children’s and Youth Choir’s »exceptional artistic and social engagement«.
Theater Bonn gives school children from the age of 6 an option to enter the world of music.
Registration for auditions to be directed to: