Ensemble Nobiles

The Leipzig vocal quintet Ensemble Nobiles can look back on almost 20 years of artistic work.

The repertoire ranges from late medieval masses to modern music. The focus is on secular male choirs of the Romantic period, an extensive repertoire of church music and new compositions for the five singers.

The ensemble has collaborated successfully with contemporary composers and musician friends, including Manfred Schlenker, Volker Bräutigam, Fredo Jung, Jeremy Rawson, David Hamilton, Bernd Franke, Franz Danksagmüller, Gregory W. Brown, Gregor Meyer, Daniel Hope, Juan de la Rubia, Sjaella, Gewandhauschor and New York Polyphony and many more.

The quintet has received valuable inspiration for its artistic work in workshops with John Potter, vocal pedagogue Werner Schüssler, the Ensemble amarcord, The King's Singers and the Hilliard Ensemble. In master classes, Ensemble Nobiles passes on its experience to choirs and small ensembles in Germany, Norway, Australia and the USA.

Ensemble Nobiles has won awards at national and international competitions, including first prizes at the 9th German Choir Competition 2014 in Weimar, 2016 in Graz/Austria, 2019 in Tampere/Finland, and as best vocal ensemble at the 13th International Choral Competition Gallus Maribor 2015. The young singers were scholarship holders of the German Music Council, the German Foundation for Musical Life and the Marie-Luise Imbusch Foundation.

Ensemble Nobiles was founded in January 2006. The choristers met each other during their nine-year education in fine arts as members of the St. Thomas Boys Choir Leipzig.

Their repertoire ranges from late medieval mass songs to modern age works. The five young musicians attach great importance to the works of German Romantic composers, such as Schubert, Schumann and Mendelssohn Bartholdy, as well as to their extensive repertoire of church music.

The ensemble has successfully collaborated with a number of other artists, such as Daniel Hope, Juan de la Rubia, Sjaella and New York Polyphony and the composers Manfred Schlenker, Volker Bräutigam (GER), David Hamilton (NZ) and Jeremy Rawson (UK).

Ensemble Nobiles has participated in practical seminars under the direction of vocal teacher Werner Schüssler, John Potter (The Hilliard Ensemble), Anders Jalkéus (The Real Group), Ensemble amarcord, The King's Singers and The Hilliard Ensemble.

In March 2014 Ensemble Nobiles received a grant from the German Music Council and were named to the Federal Selection of Concerts for Young Artists, which recognized young professional musicians. Furthermore the five singers won the Special Prize and a second grant awarded by the Deutsche Stiftung Musikleben.

Radio stations in Germany and abroad broadcast reports and concert recordings and reported on the ensemble's recordings, which were released on the GENUIN classics label, RONDEAU Production and their own label Discors.

In addition to numerous concerts in Germany, including at renowned festivals such as the Bachfest Leipzig, the Kultursommer Rheinland-Pfalz, the Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the Mosel Musikfestival and the Schleswig-Holstein Musikfestival, Ensemble Nobiles has performed in the Netherlands, France, Finland, Norway, Slovenia, England, Switzerland, Italy, Spain, the USA, Australia, New Zealand and Singapore.

Ensemble Nobiles is an ambassador of the musical education campus forum thomanum Leipzig.