TICC

Camille Saint-Saëns: Oratorio de Noël

That Christmas feeling!

It’s hard to imagine a more Yuletide atmosphere than with a world famous Christmas oratory, the tingling sound of a heavenly harp, and well-known Advent and Christmas carols all tucked into a program presented in a church with outstanding musical acoustics. Trinity International Concert Choir (TICC), Frankfurt, is presenting as its musical anchor on Sunday, December 15, 6 p.m. in the Cantate Domino Church in Frankfurt/Nordweststadt the “Oratorio de Noël” from Camille Saint-Saëns. One of his early works (1869), this Romantic composition for orchestra, five soloists, harp, organ, and four-part choir has in recent years gained high acceptance throughout the musical world.

For this oratory, the composer selected texts from the Latin Bible, both Old and New Testaments. He concentrated on telling the Christmas story as found in the gospels of St. Luke and St. John, but also drew from the Psalms for the 10 part composition.

The concert opens with the 40 singer choir performing “Cantate Domino” (Sing a new song to the Lord, taken from Psalm 96) by baroque master Jan Pieterszoon Sweelinck (1562-1621). This piece is one of the most beautiful musical settings of this psalm and is being sung in the church bearing the same name. The architecture of the church, built in the 1960s, was designed to provide ideal acoustics for such music.

The second part of the evening features Advent and Christmas carols such as “Es ist ein Ros entsprungen” from Michael Praetorius and “Übers Gebirg Maria geht” by Johann Eccard song by TICC. In addition, the string players of the Capitol Symphonie Orchestra (Offenbach) and harpist Angela Holzschuh are performing seasonal solo pieces following their accompaniment of the oratory.

This entire concert at Cantate Domino, Ernst-Kahn-Straße 20, 60439 Frankfurt, is under the direction of TICC musical director Dr. Steffen Bücher, who also sings the bass solo parts of “Oratorio de Noël”. Other soloists are sopranos Marion E. Bücher-Herbst and Annette Decker, Anna-Maria Tonhäuser (alto), and tenor Florian Wagner.

Time and venue
Sunday, 15.12.2024 – 6 p.m.
Kirche Cantate Domino
Ernst-Kahn-Str. 20, 60439 Frankfurt

Performers
Marion E. Bücher-Herbst (soprano)
Annette Decker (soprano)
Anna-Maria Tonhäuser (alto)
Florian Wagner (tenor)
Steffen Bücher (bass)
Trinity International Concert Choir 
Capitol Symphonie Orchester
Steffen Bücher (conductor)

Admission
22 € reg. / 17 € red.
via tickets@ticchoir.de
or box office

Choir concert in the Taunus at the “Stedter Advent”

Just before Christmas, choral music lovers will have another chance to experience that Advent feeling with a free live performance within the “Stedter Advent” at the Ev. Kirche Oberursel/Oberstedten, Kirchstraße 28, 61440 Oberursel-Oberstedten, Sunday, December 22 at 7.30 p.m. TICC will present a variety of Advent and Christmas anthems and carols, including a sing-along for audience. Accompanying on the organ is Thorge Pohl.

Time and venue
Sunday, 22 December 2024 – 7.30 p.m.
Ev. Kirche Oberstedten
Kirchstraße 28, 61440 Oberursel

Performers
Thorge Pohl (organ)
Trinity International Concert Choir
Steffen Bücher (conductor)

Admission
free (donations are welcome)

We welcome new singers!

♬ just come along to a rehearsal, sit down and sing with us:
Thursdays, from 19.30 to 21.30
at Trinity Lutheran Church, Nibelungenallee 54, 60318 Frankfurt am Main

♬ you do not need to audition, but you should have some knowledge of Music

♬ our rehearsals are held in English, but nearly all singers also speak German

♬ if you would like more information first, you can always send an email (in any language you feel comfortable with) to Info@TICChoir.de

» more . . .

Intercultural understanding through sacred and secular choral music!

The experience of working together on demanding and fulfilling music unites us.

We offer a musical home for people from all over the world living temporarily or permanently in the Rhine-Main region. In the face of ongoing outbreaks of hatred and violence here and around the world, we stand as an international choir against terrorism and violence. We would like nothing more than to be able to live and sing together in friendship, peace and justice with all the people of this world.

The Trinity International Concert Choir (TICC) e.V. began as “The Messiah Project” in 2011 and has since established itself in Frankfurt as a uniquely international choir. Concert programs in recent years have included Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s St. John Passion, Dvorak’s Mass in D major, Fauré’s Requiem, Bilder der Hoffnung (paintings of hope) by Petr Eben, Rossini’s Petite Messe solennelle, Mozart’s Requiem in the version by Robert D. Levin, Telemann’s Day of Judgement, All the Ways of a Man by Knut Nystedt and Die Geburt unsers Herren Jesu Christi by Rogier Michael. In 2023, we performed The Creation by Joseph Haydn at the Alte Oper Frankfurt in a joint project with several children’s/youth/adult choirs.

TICC rehearses at the Trinity Lutheran Church in Frankfurt, an international, English-speaking parish whose former musical director, Dr. Jerrode Baker Marsh, was the impulse and guiding inspiration for the choir. Frankfurt’s multicultural society is reflected in the composition of the choir: currently about 55 singers from 13 different nations sing together. At Christmas, we usually present mixed programs of Advent songs and carols from our members’ home countries.

After single-handedly organizing the choir for its initial project performances of “Messiah” and then building and directing it afterwards, in 2015 Dr. Baker Marsh passed the baton to Michael Muche. Through his intensive, sensitive work, the choir continued to develop and our special TICC voice emerged. After the Corona-related singing break, which was only bridged by online substitute rehearsals and exercises outside, we restarted in summer 2022 with our inspiring choir director Dr. Steffen-Michael Bücher, full of energy and creative ideas.

Meet TICC’s choir director: Dr. Steffen-Michael Bücher

Dr. Bücher received his musical inclination from the cradle, since his grandparents were pianists, a renown piano duo heard throughout the concert and broadcasting worlds.

As a five-year-old he received his first piano instruction. In 1987 he won his first prize at the “Jugend musiziert” competition. This was followed by awards such as the “Begabtenförderung” of the city of Ladenburg, selection for MDR television recordings of Bach’s Christmas Oratorio in Halle in 1996 as well as other top prizes and scholarships.

Bücher is a graduate in studies of piano, voice, and conducting. In addition to his artistic-academic training, he finalized and fulfilled his teacher train-ing studies in both music and physical education, completing both first and second state examinations.

His extensive studies have been rounded out by master classes with such notables as Sir Colin Davis, Helmuth Rilling (Stuttgart), Thomas Choir cantor Georg Christoph Biller (Leipzig), Peter Feuchtwanger (London), Konrad and Rudolf Meister (Hanover/Mannheim), Oskar Milani (Nuremberg), among others.

Following years of performing in recitals and concerts with various orchestras as both soloist and conductor in both Germany and abroad, Bücher made his opera debut in 2002.

Besides being a versatile musical performer, he has also been engaged in several cultural enterprises, both in directorial and management positions. He worked for the Hessian Ministry of Culture as well as for the Hessian Broadcasting Corporation, has been appointed to various committees, and is a juror for musical competitions.

In 2023, he was awarded his PhD at the Department of Neurology at the University of Heidelberg.