Musicus Köln
was founded in 1985 by Christoph Spering and has become known far beyond the borders of Cologne as the chamber choir of the Mülheim Kantorei. Inspired and musicologically sound performances justify this reputation. The choir's broad repertoire ranges from the Baroque to the 20th century, with a focus on lesser-known works of the Classical and Romantic periods, which are interpreted with an eye to historical performance practice.

Critics have praised the choir's high virtuosity, fresh dynamics, balanced beauty of sound and purity of intonation. The choir has established its excellent reputation with over 20 CD recordings, many of which have won awards. Shortly after the choir was founded, it began collaborating with the Cologne Gürzenich Orchestra and Musica Antiqua Köln. Invitations from renowned guest conductors followed, including international greats such as Gerd Albrecht, Gianluigi Gelmetti, Philippe Herreweghe, Avner Biron and, most recently, Trevor Pinnock for the performance of George Frideric Handel's Messiah.

The vocal ensemble, which is made up of music students and professional singers, has given guest performances in numerous national and international concert halls and enlivened a wide variety of festivals beyond the city limits of Cologne. Special repertoire - such as Beethoven's Ninth on New Year's Eve - has become indispensable in the Rhine area.

Chorus Musicus Köln has taken part in various opera and radio performances. Especially in the radio field, the choir enjoys lasting respect, as often unknown or even highly difficult works are presented here in tonal purity. The Chorus Musicus Köln has made a significant contribution to the two CD productions that have been awarded the German Echo Klassik Prize: Elijah by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (2011), CD slipcase Johann Sebastian Bach, cantatas after texts by Martin Luther (2017).

Christoph Spering
is one of the most renowned specialists for historical performance practice in the international music business. Making the unknown known and the known interesting is one of the central themes of his extensive musical work. With his lively interpretations, he pursues the goal of constantly opening up new ways of listening to the audience. In recent years, Christoph Spering has developed his own format, the 'discussion concert', which has delighted audiences and organisers alike.

At the centre of Christoph Spering's artistic work and research is the musical repertoire of the Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods. In the 1980s, he was one of the first conductors to present performances of 18th and 19th century works in a historically informed performance style, thus embarking on an innovative path of interpretation. His key international success came with the first performance of Mendelssohn's version of Bach's St Matthew Passion, which he rediscovered (also released as an excellent CD).

In the development of Das Neue Orchester, which he founded, Christoph Spering often performed all of Beethoven's symphonies in concert cycles in European concert halls, in addition to the symphonies of Brahms, Schubert, Schumann and Mendelssohn. In doing so, he was able to develop a spectrum of interpretations and elicit many a secret from the scores.