Dresden Kreuzchor

The Dresden Kreuzchor is one of the world’s oldest and most famous boys’ choirs. Its history dates back to the first mention of the city of Dresden in the early 13th century. More than 800 years later, its most important task is still the musical accompaniment of the vespers and services at Dresden’s Kreuzkirche. Here, the Dresden Kreuzchor performs in Vespers and services and regularly gives concerts with outstanding works of sacred music. They form the core of the repertoire and are an expression of the Christian-humanistic character of the choir. Alongside famous soloists, the Dresden Philharmonic and the Saxon State Chapel Dresden are major artistic partners. The Dresden Kreuzchor also collaborates with ensembles of early music such as the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra and the Academy for Early Music of Berlin. The repertoire of the Dresden Kreuzchor ranges from the Renaissance to premieres of contemporary works. His extensive artistic work has been documented in numerous recordings.

Several times a year, the Dresden Kreuzchor goes on national and international concert tours, beyond German and European borders to Israel, Canada, Japan, South America and the USA. Moreover, it performs at international music festivals as well as countless radio and television recordings. He represents the Saxon state capital as its oldest cultural institution on almost all continents and has recently debuted at the Shanghai International Arts Festival and the Saxon Staatskapelle Dresden at the Salzburg Easter Festivals. The choir singers are also regularly invited to opera roles as soloists.

The Kreuzchor singers, called “Crucians”, still graduate at the Kreuzschule; about two third of them live in the adja-cent boarding school. Next to their normal classes, the 130 singers aged nine to eighteen have weekly singing and instrumental lessons. Their daily rehearsals and the specific sound of the choir are the basis of the success and the fame of the Dresden Kreuzchor.

Conductor: Roderich Kreile

To date, the office of Kreuzkantor (director of the choir) is one of the most prestigious and renowned offices in Protestant church music. The 28th Kreuzkantor since the Reformation is Roderich Kreile, who has been in office since 1997. 

He was born in 1956 and studied church music and choral conducting in Munich. As a church musician, Roderich Kreile soon received widespread attention beyond regional borders. He taught at the University of Music and Performing Arts Munich between 1989 and 1996, his last position there being one of professor, and he conducted two university choirs. In 1994, he also took on the position of conductor of the Munich Philharmonic Choir. In addition, he accepted invitations to play the organ and give lectures both in Germany and abroad.

Kreuzkantor Roderich Kreile conducts all liturgical performances as well as the concerts and tours given by the Dresden Kreuzchor. He has developed a wide repertoire of religious and secular choral works with the Crucians from the history of music and has conducted many world premieres of contemporary compositions over the last years. He has also increased co-operation with world-famous orchestras and produced numerous radio and CD recordings. 

Whereas in earlier centuries, the Kreuzkantor’s duties were mostly limited to conducting music for the liturgical services, his tasks today extend far beyond the purely artistic responsibilities. As head of the Dresden Kreuzchor, Roderich Kreile also acts as a director on behalf of the city.

Roderich Kreile is a member of the Saxon Academy of Arts, Vice-President of the “Neue Bachgesellschaft” (New Bach Society) and a member of the board of advisors for the International Heinrich Schütz Society. In 2012 he was awarded the “Verfassungsmedaille” (Constitutional Medal) of the Free State of Saxony in recognition of his work.