Founded by Helmuth Rilling in 1954, the Gächinger Kantorei has enjoyed the sponsorship of the International Bach Academy Stuttgart since 1981 and is today considered one of the world’s most outstanding concert choirs. During its long history which spans more than 60 years, the choir has performed hundreds of concerts, made countless guest appearances, Radio and CD recordings and can lay claim to inestimable influence through its various notable credentials, for example its collaborations with renowned guest conductors and orchestras, including Masaaki Suzuki, Krzysztof Penderecki and Sir Roger Norrington as well as the Vienna Philharmonic, the New York Philharmonic and the Israel Philharmonic.

During the 2016/17 season, the Bach Academy’s vocal and instrumental ensembles underwent a fundamental change and have since been performing under the one shared name of ›Gaechinger Cantorey‹. The deliberately archaic spelling unites the choir – which Academy Director Hans-Christoph Rademann has been gradually reforming since his appointment in 2013 – with the newly-formed Baroque orchestra. Based on the historical traditions of the Bach era and with its roots in live performance history, the Gaechinger Cantorey stands for a holistic musical approach and the aesthetic sound-ideal of the Baroque. This authentic sound is achieved today through the use of Baroque instruments and musicians who are experts in Baroque performance practices, as well as choirs whose singers are as talented as ›Ripienists‹ (ensemble singers) as they are ›Concertistas‹ (soloists).

Gerhild Romberger was born in the Emsland. After studying music for schools at theAcademy of Music in Detmold, she studied with Mitsuko Shirai and Hartmut Höll.

As a passionate concert-singer her extremely extensive repertoire encompasses allthe major contralto and mezzo-soprano parts in the oratorio and concert repertoirefrom the Baroque to the Classical and Romantic periods to the 20thcentury music.

Significant steps in Gerhild Romberger´s career in recent years were concerts with Manfred Honeck, the Berlin Philharmonic under Gustavo Dudamel, with the LosAngeles Philharmonic under Herbert Blomstedt and the Leipzig Gewandhausorchester under Riccardo Chailly. Furthermore, she performed with the Vienna and Bamberg Symphony Orchestras under Daniel Harding or at La Scalaunder Franz Welser-Möst.

Highlights of the current season include a concert tour with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and Beethoven´s 9th Symphony under the baton of Andris Nelsons as wellas Mahler´s 3rd Symphony with Concertgebouworkest in Amsterdam. Furthermore, she can be heard with Mahler´s ›Kindertotenlieder‹ and the Budapest Festival Orchestra and with Schumann´s ›Das Paradies und Die Peri‹ at Hamburg´s Elbphilharmonie.