Christian Erny
Swiss conductor Christian Erny has built a reputation for stylistic versatility, sensitive programming and a dedication to musical detail which has come to be appreciated by numerous orchestras and ensembles internationally.
Since 2015, Christian Erny has proudly set high standards as founder and artistic director of the professional choir The Zurich Chamber Singers (“A rising star in the international choral scene…”, concerti.de, 2022). His deep knowledge of singing, voice and text as well as his successful background as a pianist translates into his work with orchestras, where he is greatly respected for his precise rehearsal techniques and energetic performances.
Christian Erny has developed an eclectic repertoire ranging from Renaissance polyphony to contemporary music, and surprises audiences time and again with ingenious programs in which he combines works from the standard repertoire with new music, thereby bringing familiar pieces to the audience in new ways. He feels particularly close to the era of Viennese Classicism, especially to the works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
Christian has worked with some of today’s most prominent composers and has to date premiered works by Paul Mealor (GB), Burkhard Kinzler (DE), Julian Revie (USA), Rhiannon Randle (GB), Patrick Brennan (GB) and Kevin Hartnett (USA). Among the composers who appreciate his work and entrust him with their compositions for premiere in the future are David Philip Hefti (CH) and Alfred Felder (CH). He has worked closely with American composer Caroline Shaw at a joint project between her and the Musikkollegium Winterthur in June 2023.
In the upcoming seasons Christian Erny will work with orchestras such as the Musikkollegium Winterthur and the argovia philharmonic. Highlights of the upcoming season 24/25 include the release of three new recordings: the world premiere of Paul Mealor‘s new choral opera „The Light of Paradise“ together with the Zurich Chamber Singers and the sonic.art Saxophonquartett, the Haydn Cello Concerti with Michal Balas and the chamber orchestra Mannheim, and a Mozart program with pianist Hans-Jürg Strub and the Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen. Christian will be conducting the Musikkollegium Winterthur premiering the new opera „Walpurgisnacht“ by Swiss composer Alfred Felder.
Among the orchestras Erny has conducted to date are the Württembergische Philharmonie Reutlingen, the Mannheim Chamber Orchestra, the CHAARTS chamber artists, the Biel Solothurn Symphony Orchestra (TOBS), the Orchestra of Europe, the baroque orchestras Les Passion de l’Âme and Cardinal Complex, the Junge Philharmonie Zentralschweiz and the Sofia Symphony Orchestra. He made his opera debut at the Lucerne Theater in 2019. In the same year, as part of a conducting forum, he was also one of three young conductors selected to work for a week with the Chor des Bayrischen Rundfunks.
Christian Erny and his Zurich Chamber Singers are exclusive artists on the Berlin Classics label. Founded in 2015, the choir’s diverse recordings have delighted press and audiences worldwide. The vocal magazine Chorzeit praises the “outstanding” sound culture, which is “unparalleled”. SWR2 states the “very highest class” of the latest CD recording, Image HiFi Magazine already sees the choir in the “Top 10 of European chamber choirs”. The group has performed in some of Europes most prestigious venues such as the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Brucknerhaus Linz or the Tonhalle Zurich. The most recent album, Bruckner Spectrum – a carefully and intelligently curated program around Anton Bruckner’s Latin motets – was released in the fall of 2022. Like the previous release, O nata lux, it received excellent reviews from the international press. The Zurich Chamber Singers also released a number of digital singles and EPs in 2021, including the ten-part Stabat mater by Domenico Scarlatti and other works by Benjamin Britten, Jean Binet, Jean Deatwyler and Eugen Meier.
After studies in piano, conducting and music theory at the Zurich University of the Arts, the Jacobs School of Music and the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Christian Erny first began a career as a pianist. He made highly acclaimed recordings of Debussy, Liszt and Lourié, for which he was awarded the Gramophone Editor’s Choice and nominated for the German Record Critics’ Award. At the International Piano Competition Île de France he received a special prize for the best interpretation of a work by Arnold Schoenberg. Concerts have taken him to many European countries, South America and the USA. He meanwhile devotes himself fully to conducting.
In 2019, his hometown of Winterthur awarded him the annual Cultural Promotion Prize for his artistic work to date.