The Mannheim University Choir
The Mannheim University Choir was founded in the summer semester of 1982 and conducted by Theo Schmitt until the end of 2014. During these 32 years, the cooperation led to the performance of many great works. The Messiah by G. F. Handel, the Mass in C major by L. van Beethoven, but also smaller choral arrangements, spirituals and folklore were part of the repertoire.
The choir consists of more than 80 singers and brings together students from the Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University, the University of Applied Sciences, and the University of Mannheim. Doctoral students, student assistants, and staff members of the local higher education institutions are also welcome to join. At the end of 2014, Theo Schmitt was bid farewell during his last concert as the conductor of the university choir. Nevertheless, he maintains a close relationship to the choir. He was succeeded by Jürgen Weisser.
Director of the choir: Jürgen Weisser
Credit: Katrin GlücklerJürgen Weisser studied the bassoon, composition, piano, and church music in his hometown Mannheim. He also studied school music and political science in Heidelberg, as well as conducting and composition in Detmold.
After his first composition prizes and engagements as a pianist at the Nationaltheater Mannheim, the Nordwestdeutsche Philharmonie, and the Aalto-Theater Essen, he was the Kapellmeister at the Oldenburgisches Staatstheater from the 1988/
89 season. At the request of Brigitte Fassbaender (Kammersängerin), he made his debut as an opera singer in her widely acclaimed production “Rosenkavalier”. As one of the most talented conductors of his generation, he was appointed to the Conductors' Forum of the German Music Council in 1992. After further engagements as chief conductor at the Landestheater Mecklenburg and music director of the Musikbühne Mannheim, he has been the artistic director of the chamber orchestra of the Mannheimer Abendakademie since the 2005/ 06 season, permanent guest conductor of the Kurpfalzphilharmonie Heidelberg since 2008, and conductor of the symphony orchestra Neustadt since the 2010/ 11 season. In 2016, he successfully made his debut as the conductor of the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz. Jürgen Weisser has not only conducted more than 40 orchestras, but has also worked with several amateur, student, and professional choirs. In the summer of 2009, he accepted the invitation to rehearse Richard Wagner's “Twilight of the Gods” (“Götterdämmerung”) with the opera choir of the national theater in Lisbon. Since 2005, Jürgen Weisser has been teaching as Oberstudienrat (senior councillor of studies) for music at the Goethe-Gymnasium in Germersheim. Under his direction, the school choir grew from an initial number of 30 singers to 500 singers and became one of the greatest of its kind. The musical theater pieces for children which Jürgen Weisser created with the lyricist Eberhard Streul have been performed in over 100 theaters in Germany and abroad. Since the spring semester 2015, Jürgen Weisser has been the conductor of the Mannheim University Choir. With tremendous enthusiasm and wide practical experience, he confidently conducts the choir through the musical scores.
Assistant director of the choir: Timur Ahmad
Timur Ahmad was provided his first musical training by Norbert Steinegger in Birenbach. In 2014, he started studying School Music and, since 2019, he has been studying Conducting specializing in Choir Conducting with Prof. Harald Jers at the Mannheim University of Music and Performing Arts. Throughout his studies he was also instructed by Frieder Bernius, Mathias Rickert, Bernhard Schmidt, Jan Schumacher, Stefan Blunier, and Alexander Rüth. Conducting courses with Wolfgang Schäfer, Raphael Immoos, and Erik Sohn were further sources of artistic inspiration to him.
Timur Ahmad is both a singer in and a conductor of several choirs in the region. He sings in the chamber choir of the Musikhochschule Mannheim (director: Harald Jers), which won the German Choral Competition in Freiburg in 2018 and ranked third in the International Choral Competition in Maribor, Slovenia, in 2019. He also sings in the chamber choir Vox Quadrata (director: Tristan Meister).
Since 2019, Timur Ahmad has been directing the choir Cäcilienchor Oberflockenbach. He is also a founding member and musical director of the chamber choir MAgnifico, performing sophisticated a cappella concerts with young singers from the Mannheim area twice a year. In addition, he works as a voice teacher at the singing society Liedertafel Ungstein (director: Salome Niedecken).
Since the fall semester 2022, Timur Ahmad has been the assistant to director Jürgen Weisser of the Mannheim University Choir.