Celebratory Music at the Bürgersaal Church, Munich
Bach: Cantata “Lobe den Herren, den mächtigen König der Ehren”
Reger: Largo for Violin and Organ op. 93
“Ich sehe dich in tausend Bildern” for Soprano and Organ op. 105/1
Romanze in G Major for Violin and Organ
Mariä Wiegenlied for Soprano, Violin and Organ op. 76/52
Variations and Fugue on an original theme for Organ in F-sharp
Minor op. 73
Katja Stuber, soprano
Valer Barna-Sabadus, altus
Robert Sellier, tenor
Benjamin Appl, bass
Markus Wolf, violine
Chor der Bürgersaalkirche München
Odeon Ensemble München
Michael Hartmann, organ and conductor
The congregation of “Men and Citizens of
Munich” was founded in 1610. The meeting
hall in the city’s Neuhauser street, the “Bürgersaal”,
was consecrated as a church in 1778. It is now one
of the city’s noteworthy sites, not only because of
the significant work of major rococo sculptor Ignaz
Günther, who created his “Schutzengelgruppe” in
1763 for the Bürgersaalkirche, a work that can still
be seen in the church today. Pater Rupert Mayer SJ,
who was active in the Catholic resistance during the
Nazi regime, became head of the congregation in
1921. He died in 1945 and was beatified in 1987
by Pope Johannes Paul II; his grave is located in the
Bürgersaalkirche. The concert celebrating the anniversary
of the Marian Men’s Congregation includes
works that are closely associated with Rupert Mayer.
The organ of the church is also featured. It was built
in 1994 by the Vleugels organ-building company
and based on registration principles of the German
romantic tradition.
Der Bürgersaal
Michael Hartmann
Katja Stuber
Katja Stuber began vocal lessons with Christian
Gerhaher at the Academy for Music
and Theater in Munich while still studying
music and German literature. Four years later,
in 2008, she completed her degree with honors.
The soprano attended oratorio and song
classes held by Christoph Hammer, Juliane
Banse and Helmut Deutsch. She has studied
with Ruth Ziesak in Saarbrücken since 2008.
Katja Stuber has appeared with such
ensembles as the Munich Radio Orchestra,
the Bach-Collegium München, the Stuttgart
Philharmonic, Concerto Köln and the
Balthasar-Neumann-Ensemble under conductors
like Thomas Hengelbrock, Helmut
Rilling and Lothar Zagrosek.
Since the 2009/2010 season, the soprano
has been a member of the ensemble at the
Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz.
Katja Stuber attended master classes with
András Schiff (Lied), Gerd Türk and Barbara
Schlick. She has been supported by Yehudi
Menuhin’s foundation “Live Music Now”
since 2007 and is a scholarship recipient of
the German Stage Association and the Selected
Young Artists in Germany 2011/12.
Valer Barna-Sabadus
Countertenor Valer Barna-Sabadus was
born in 1986 in Arad, located in the
Banat region of Romania. He began studying
voice at the Academy for Theater and Music
in Munich in 1984, focusing on concert and
opera. His teachers were Gabriele Fuchs as
well as Michael Hartmann (oratorio).
In 2009, at the age of 23, he debuted at
the Salzburg Festival in the role of Adrasto
in Jommelli’s Demofoonte under the direction
of Riccardo Muti. He was honored as the
“Artist of the month of July” by the “Musical
America” music forum. He took on the
title role in Vivaldi’s opera Orlando furioso at
the Bavarian Theaterakademie. In fall 2010
he will debut at the Frankfurt Opera as Ruggiero
in Vivaldi’s Orlando under the direction
of Andrea Marcon. In 2011 he will sing Orfeo
in Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice in Stuttgart
and debut in Monteverdi’s Orfeo under Ivor
Bolton in the Theater a.d. Wien.
He is a special prizewinner of the Gasteig
competition as well as a scholarship recipient
of the Studienstiftung des deutschen Volkes.
Robert Sellier
Tenor Robert Sellier was born in Munich
in 1979 and took his first voice
lessons with Hartmut Elbert at the Bavarian
Singakademie. After completing secondary
school, he studied at the Academy of Music
in Augsburg, most recently in Jan Hammar’s
master class. In 2003, he received a scholarship
from the Richard Wagner Association;
in 2004 he was awarded First Prize at the
vocal competition of the Academy of Music
Augsburg-Nuremberg. He has attended
master classes with such teachers as Margaret
Baker-Genovesi, Margreet Honig and Gerd
Uecker. In 2006, he sang the role of Emilio
in Mozart’s Il sogno di Scipione at the Salzburg
Festival.
His wide concert repertoire ranges from
Monteverdi to Johann Sebastian Bach’s oratorios
to works of the 20th and 21st centuries,
including diverse premieres. Since the
2007/2008 season he has been a member of
the soloist ensemble at the Staatstheater am
Gärtnerplatz. Sellier has recorded for a number
of labels, including OehmsClassics and
ORF.
Benjamin Appl
Baritone Benjamin Appl is a former member
of the Regensburg Domspatzen. In
2002, he was awarded the Bavarian Radio
Special Prize “for outstanding interpretation
of a 20th century work” and also received a
scholarship from the Richard Wagner association.
He is a prizewinner of the “Jugend
musiziert” national competition as well. The
Yehudi Menuhin foundation “Live Music
Now” has supported him since 2008.
In addition to numerous concert appearances,
he has sung in such operas as Haydn’s
Die Welt auf dem Mond, Wiener Blut by Johann
Strauss and as Baron Tusenbach in Tri
Sestri by Peter Eötvös with the Munich Radio
Orchestra under Ulf Schirmer.
He has attended master classes with
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, Rudolf Piernay,
Brigitte Fassbaender, Peter Schreier as well as
Christian Gerhaher.
He studied with Edith Wiens and Christoph
Adt (oratorio) at the Academy for Music
and Theater in Munich and is a scholarship
recipient of the Studienstiftung des
deutschen Volkes.
Markus Wolf
Markus Wolf was born in Vienna in 1962
and has been the first concertmaster of
the Bavarian State Opera Orchestra in Munich
since 1989. He previously held the same
post with the Vienna Symphonic. He studied
with Günter Pichler at the Vienna Academy
of Music and was Pichler’s assistant beginning
in 1983. He continued his studies with Max
Rostal, Nathan Milstein and Oscar Shumsky.
Wolf is a prizewinner of various competitions
and debuted at the age of 14 with the Wolf
Trio in the Vienna Musikverein. He recorded
Mozart’s string quartets with the Alban Berg
Quartett, the Mendelssohn Concerto and
Schoenberg’s First Chamber Symphony with
Zubin Mehta and the Strauss and Pfitzner
violin sonatas with Julian Riehm.
He has soloed under such conductors as
Wolfgang Sawallisch, Sir Colin Davis, Zubin
Mehta, Marcello Viotti, Kent Nagano, Peter
Schneider, Jun Märkl and lvor Bolton. In
1981 he founded the Beethoven Trio Wien
with which he regularly concertizes throughout
Europe, Japan, Canada and the USA and
which has recorded the piano trios of Mozart,
Schubert, Mendelssohn and Beethoven.
Markus Wolf holds master classes in Germany and Japan and was guest concertmaster
of the London Symphony Orchestra from
1997 until 2002.
He was awarded the title “Bavarian
Chamber Virtuoso” in 2000. Markus Wolf
plays the “Vollrath Stradivarius” from the
year 1722.
Michael Hartmann
Michael Hartmann was born in 1955 in
Elsenfeld, Germany and began studying
with Franz Lehrndorfer in Munich when
he was still in secondary school. He studied
organ with Klemens Schnorr and Rose Kirn
at the Academy for Theater and Music in
Munich as well as sacred music at the Mozarteum
in Salzburg.
In addition, he completed studies in
philosophy and theology at the university in
Munich, gaining a doctorate in theology. He
was first a church musician as well as an accompanist
with the Munich Philharmonic;
he has taught at the Richard-Strauss Conservatory
in Munich since 1989 and was most
recently the head of the department of sacred
music and organ. Since 2008 he has taught
at the Academy for Music and Theater in
Munich as head of an organ and oratorio
class. In addition, he is an authority for organs,
serving the archbishopric of Munich
and Freising. He is the musical director of
the Bürgersaalkirche in Munich and artistic
director of the chorus and orchestra of the
Odeon Ensemble Munich. He was the temporary
cathedral organist in Munich during
the 2002/2003 church year. Numerous recordings
as well as radio and television appearances
document Michael Hartmann’s
work. These are supplemented by active
international concert activities featuring his
broad repertoire (which includes the complete
works for organ by Johann Sebastian
Bach) and improvisational finesse.
As a soloist (organ and harpsichord), he
has performed at festivals in Italy (Rome,
Orvieto, Viterbo, Lecce), Poland (Oliva)
and Japan (Tokyo, Kyoto, Sendai, Sapporo),
among others. In 2000, Michael Hartmann
performed a concert series entitled “800
Years of Organ Music”.