Charité Chor Berlin
The Charité Chor Berlin is a young, ambitious chamber choir whose members include students from a wide range of disciplines as well as young professionals. A shared love of singing and a high musical standard enable the ensemble to work consistently at the highest level.
In 2013, Adrian Emans founded the choir from a choral group at the Charité Universitätsmedizin Berlin. Under his direction, the ensemble has built a renowned name in the Berlin choral scene over the past years.
Concert tours have taken the choir to Greece, Austria, Estonia, and Latvia. The ensemble has also performed in Germany's most prestigious concert halls, including the Berliner Philharmonie, the Konzerthaus Berlin, the Friedrichstadt-Palast, the HCC Hannover, the Gewandhaus Leipzig, and the Musik- und Kongresshalle Lübeck.
The choir has a strong record of competition success: at the Berliner Chortreff 2025, the ensemble competed in the "Mixed Choirs with 32+ members" category, won first prize, and was nominated for the German Choir Competition 2027 in Leipzig. Previously, the choir achieved "great distinction" (4th place) in 2022 and "good distinction" in 2017. At the German Choral Festival 2025 in Nuremberg, the choir won a second prize in the "Contemporary Choral Music" category. At the International Choral Competition in Preveza (Greece), the ensemble won a gold and a silver medal in two categories in 2019.
The Charité Chor's repertoire spans classical choral literature from many periods; world premieres and choral-symphonic works are also a regular part of the programme. In addition to its own bi-annual concerts, the choir takes on various engagements — for example, since 2023 it has been touring regularly throughout Germany with the Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg performing film music productions.
Conductor: Adrian Emans
Adrian Emans is a choral conductor and director. He is the founder and artistic director of the Neuer Kammerchor Berlin, the Charité Chor Berlin, and the Neuer Männerchor Berlin.
Adrian Emans began his musical career as a classical guitarist, achieving success in national and international competitions. He completed his Master of Education in Music at the Universität der Künste Berlin and in Mathematics at the Freie Universität Berlin. Adrian Emans attended masterclasses with Frieder Bernius, Simon Halsey, Stefan Parkman, Michael Gläser, Nicolas Fink, and Frank Markowitsch, and in this context conducted ensembles such as the Kammerchor Stuttgart, the Vokalakademie Berlin, and the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Choir.
As a conductor and vocal coach he has also worked with the Rundfunkchor Berlin, Voces8, the Children's Choir of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, various professional and semi-professional choirs from Germany and abroad, as well as internationally recognised orchestras including the lautten compagney, the Konzerthausorchester, Ensemble Modern, and the Deutsches Filmorchester Babelsberg.
With his own choirs, Adrian Emans has won numerous national and international competitions and received special awards as best conductor. Concert tours have taken him to Australia, South Africa, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, the Czech Republic, Poland, Estonia, Latvia, Norway, Sweden, and Austria.
In 2013, Adrian Emans founded the Charité Chor Berlin, which under his direction has grown into one of Berlin's most acclaimed ensembles and beyond. At the Berliner Chortreff (the Berlin regional heat of the German Choir Competition), the choir won 1st prize in 2025, qualifying for the German Choir Competition. In 2022, the Charité Chor participated in the Berliner Chortreff "with great distinction" and placed 4th in the Mixed Chamber Choirs category. At the Deutsches Chorfest competitions in Nuremberg in 2025 and Stuttgart in 2016, the Charité Chor Berlin under Adrian Emans' direction won second prize on both occasions. At the International Choral Competition in Preveza, Greece, the Charité Chor competed in two categories in 2019 and won a gold and a silver medal.
Adrian Emans founded the Neuer Kammerchor Berlin in 2016, comprising music students from the Universität der Künste Berlin. Under his direction the ensemble has become one of Germany's best-known choirs, distinguished by high musical standards, innovative concert projects, and numerous world premieres (including works by Ola Gjeilo, Daniel Elder, and Karin Rehnqvist). In 2017, the Neuer Kammerchor Berlin received the Golden Ribbon in the Mixed Chamber Choir category at the "Praga Cantat" competition; the jury also honoured Adrian Emans with a special prize for "Outstanding Conducting". In October 2019, he won with the choir at the Claudio Monteverdi International Choral Festival and Competition in the categories "Musica Sacra" and "Cori dei Adulti" as well as the overall "Grand Prix" finale, and received the special award as "Best Conductor". In March 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, Adrian Emans achieved a media sensation with the "Märzlied", one of Germany's first split-screen choir videos. At the Deutsches Chorfest in Leipzig in May 2022, the Neuer Kammerchor Berlin won first prize in both the "Contemporary Choral Music" and "Romantic Secular" categories, plus a special prize as "Choir with Particularly Outstanding Achievements", which included a CD production by the Rondeau Production label. This CD has since been released under the title "Standing on the Shoulders of Giants" to widespread critical acclaim. After qualifying in the 2022 regional competition "with outstanding distinction" and receiving a special prize for the best interpretation of a Polish work, Adrian Emans and the Neuer Kammerchor Berlin achieved "great distinction" at the German Choir Competition 2023, placing 4th in the Mixed Chamber Choir category.
In 2019, Adrian Emans founded the semi-professional Neuer Männerchor Berlin, with which he won 1st prize at the Berliner Chortreff 2025, qualifying for the German Choir Competition 2027. At the 2022 regional competition the ensemble had already qualified "with outstanding distinction" for the German Choir Competition in Hanover 2023, where they placed 4th with "great distinction".
With his Berlin Singers Collective, a professional project ensemble of full- and part-time singers, Adrian Emans regularly records music for film and television.
From 2014 to 2015, Adrian Emans worked as an assistant and répétiteur at the Berliner Philharmonie, accompanying the "Vokalhelden" project of the Berliner Philharmoniker's Education department under the artistic direction of Simon Halsey. From 2016 to 2018 he taught at the Max-Planck-Gymnasium in Berlin-Mitte, supporting the work of the school choir PlanckTon, which in 2016/2017 was the partner choir of the RIAS Chamber Choir.
From 2017 to 2019, Adrian Emans served as assistant to the Children's Choir of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden and since 2018 has periodically supported the Youth Choir of the Staatsoper Unter den Linden.
Beyond his artistic work, Adrian Emans serves as Chair of the Music Committee of the Chorverband Berlin.