Christian Kabitz himself does not think that Franconian still resonates a bit with him.

But the conductor of the Frankfurt Cäcilienchor, who was born in Nuremberg in 1950, beaming with joy, immediately admits that there is "no choir rehearsal without the rolled R": "Crrreuzige him!" he immediately quotes, looking as if it were once again his 60th birthday To convince singers of the need for a clear articulation of the Passion text.

Christian Kabitz is a choir director with body and soul and one for whom continuous work is important.

Guido Holze

Editor in the Rhein-Main-Zeitung.

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He has been directing the Cäcilienchor founded in 1818, which after the Sing-Akademie zu Berlin is the oldest existing mixed choir association in Germany, for 34 years, longer than any of his predecessors, including Felix Mendelssohn.

Kabitz took over the traditional choir in 1988 from Enoch zu Guttenberg, who had previously had the Würzburg choir director, who was already experienced and a friend of his, come to Frankfurt for rehearsals as a voice coach.

Texts with depth

Kabitz received his training at the Munich Music Academy, where he studied church music and orchestral conducting.

In 1973, while still a student, he took up his first full-time position at the Christ Church in Munich and at the same time founded the Bach Collegium Munich, an orchestra that has existed independently to this day.

Anyone who has followed the concerts of the Cäcilienchor with Kabitz in Frankfurt over the decades knows that he not only kept the singing level at a consistently high level, but also always attached great importance to working with the orchestras.

Kabitz has remained a church musician in his heart, as anyone who talks to him for a little longer notices immediately.

Sacred music has a special depth for him, has "the most potential also in terms of the texts", most of the important choral repertoire is sacred anyway, he says.

Imparting background knowledge to the choristers, but also to children and the audience, is clearly a genuine concern for him.

Kabitz is a humorous guy who doesn't want something like this to happen too conservatively.

When he gives the introductory lectures for the Frankfurt Bach concerts in the Alte Oper and writes the program texts, he likes to convey the information in a witty and amusing way.

Search for offspring

There is a lot of laughter during the choir rehearsals, and it is clear that the choir is about socializing.

Kabitz is one of the artistic directors who sit among the singers on choir trips and camps with wine until late at night.

"We use first-name terms wholeheartedly," he reveals and believes that it makes an important difference in terms of atmosphere: "Many marriages have come about in unison over the years."

The Cäcilienchor also came through the Corona crisis pretty well, with Kabitz being one of the first in Frankfurt to rely on zoom rehearsals, which at least created some cohesion.

There was no loss of members on a larger scale.

However, finding young talent is difficult, although new singers are added to almost every choir rehearsal: “We are pretty strict when it comes to recording.”

Kabitz, who filled his position as a church musician at Sankt Johannis in Würzburg for a full 37 years until 2016 in all diversity, once again speaks as a man of quality standards and continuity.

With the Cäcilienchor he plans to perform Bach's eight-part motets next on June 26 in Frankfurt's Heiliggeistkirche.