AUDITE CHAMBER CHOIR
Audite Chamber Choir was founded in 1992 by Jani Sivén. The goal was to create music of high artistic merit and vocal quality. Today, Audite pursues this goal in cooperation with the Helsinki Conservatory of Music and Finland Choir Institute, performing works ranging from baroque to opera and modern music.
Baroque music, especially the works of J. S. Bach, is central to the choir’s repertoire. St. John Passion performed with period instruments in 1998 and the three final cantatas of the Christmas Oratory in 2000 represent cooperation with the Helsinki Baroque Orchestra. Another orchestra that the choir regularly performs with is Sinfonietta Soi, also conducted by Jani Sivén. Audite’s Viennese classical and romantic performances range from Durufle’s Requiem, Mendelssohn’s Elijah Oratory and Mozart’s Requiem and Missa Vesperae Solennes de Confessore, to Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9.
Finnish choral music has still always played a key role in Audite’s repertoire. The choir introduced the revised version of Vigil by Einojuhani Rautavaara in 1997, and performed Songs of Life and Death by Aulis Sallinen in 2001. Audite’s first commissioned work, August Night by Jukka Linkola, was performed in the choir’s tenth anniversary concert in 2002. At the 50th anniversary festivities of the Finnish Institute of Classical Studies in Rome, the choir premiered Fenestra Finnorum, a work commissioned from Jani Sivén.
Audite’s versatile history of operatic productions extends from Herman Rechberger’s Laurentius at the 500th anniversary of the Church of St. Lawrence in Vantaa in 1994, to Jani Sivén’s first opera The Women of Troy in 2002, and the Finnish debut of Puccini’s Edgar in 2005.
Audite hones its skills nearly annually in international choral competitions. A fourth place at the Cork International Choral Festival in Ireland (1999) and at the International Chamber Choir Competition Marktoberdorf in Germany (2001) was elevated to a third place in both the polyphone and folklore categories at the Tolosa Choral Contest in Spain (2002). The Tampere Vocal Music Festival of 1999 resulted in a diploma with two gold stamps, and Audite was also among the six finalists in the first International Harald Andersén Chamber Choir Competition held in Helsinki in 2003.
In autumn 2005, the choir was renewed completely. At this time, the choir adopted the name Audite Chamber Choir to better reflect the number of singers and the character of this musical instrument.
In 2008, Audite Chamber Choir returned to the Basque Country to participate again in the Tolosa Choral Contest.