Munich University Choir: anniversary concert for freedom

A Sunday afternoon in July. 130 singers from Munich University Choir are packed tightly into the ‘Little Aula’ auditorium in LMU’s Main Building. There are just three rehearsals left before the big premiere. The concert will be even more special than usual this year, as it is celebrating the 75th anniversary of the choir.

“The anniversary makes you aware that you’re part of a long tradition,” says Anna Verena Egger, who has directed the choir for over a decade, “and just one stone in a larger mosaic.”

“Libertas – Freedom” is the motto of the evening. The idea came from the board of the choir’s association of friends, whose chair Andreas Schmidt suggested engaging with this highly topical theme. After all, the choir regularly rehearses in the exact place where the White Rose resistance movement once distributed flyers against the Nazi regime: the LMU atrium.

New compositions commissioned

Instead of limiting itself to existing works as normal, the choir invited musicians to contribute their own compositions. Although the composers were sent texts from the milieu of the White Rose for inspiration, the emphasis was on finding their own personal connection to the topic – which all the selected artists did wonderfully well.

One of the composers, Jaakko Mäntyjärvi, made the journey from Finland last weekend to be present at the rehearsal of his piece. Actually, he says modestly, he is a translator more than anything else. He cannot, and does not want to, live from composing alone. In actual fact, Mäntyjärvi, who describes himself as a pragmatist, has long made a name for himself as an outstanding composer and has written over a hundred pieces for small and large choirs. Almost all of them were commissioned pieces, like this one.

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The Finn approaches the theme of “freedom” with playful eclecticism and a lot of humor. His composition is based on a poem by Lauri Viita about a bedbug that persuades its fellows to leave the confines of their bed and eke out an existence on the wall. Inevitably, the experiment has an unfortunate outcome. How does he interpret the satire? “A populist figure leads others to their ruin with a promise of freedom,” explains Mäntyjärvi. All the same, he notes, the poem is not without a “certain empathy for the bedbugs that were led astray.”

In a highly self-conscious manner, Mäntyjärvi quotes familiar and less familiar revolutionary motifs in his composition, plays with allusions and mirroring, and demonstrates something that is dear to his heart: that choral music need not be the tool of a religion, nationalist movement, or ideology, but can be artistically autonomous: “It’s about independence of expression.”

Praise for high level of choir

His piece is a favorite among the choir members, relates choirmaster Selma Pleßke, who has been deputizing for Verena Egger since the winter semester. Mäntyjärvi himself was “very positively surprised” by the level of the choir and was not stinting with his praise during the rehearsal.

“To be praised by such a renowned composer – what a boost!” says Katia Werkmeister. The doctoral candidate in economics has been a member of the choir since 2018. Because she studied abroad for a while, she had to re-audition to be allowed back in. The bar is high and places are highly coveted. Every semester, Egger has to turn away many applicants. In this way, she ensures that the large amateur choir remains at a high level. Although it suffers from high turnover like all university choirs, it can nevertheless depend on a reliable core of experienced singers.

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The demands of the choir are nothing to be sneezed at. People underestimate the commitment involved in singing in the choir, says Katia Werkmeister. Rehearsing every week – with an attendance register – making space for several rehearsal weekends, giving two large concerts at the end of the semester, when many are already heading off on vacation – being in the choir takes dedication.

The choir has been rehearsing “Libertas – Freedom” since April, and there were additional rehearsal days in Benediktbeuern and two further ones in Munich. During the examination period, this is naturally “a bit stressful,” says Gabriel Hausser, who has just completed a bachelor’s degree in physics, “but you simply make the time.”

At any rate, it is during the more stressful times that students are most in need of a change of activity. “And the choir is a wonderful opportunity to get to know students and professionals from different fields to oneself.”

Challenge: premiere

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Elisabeth Fußeder, Ola Gjeilo, and Andrew Miller were also commissioned to write compositions for the “Libertas – Freedom” concert in addition to Mäntyjärvi. Miller’s work explores spiritual succor in existential circumstances, while Gjeilo’s piece is based on a poem by Emily Brontë. Fußeder plants a flag for musical freedom with microtonal shifts and up to 25 individual voices – “very challenging, but really beautiful in its overall sound,” says Pleßke.

Singing unknown pieces is an exciting challenge. “For premieres, we do not have recordings to use as a reference. We discover everything ourselves,” remarks Pleßke. Not infrequently, this process transforms initial skepticism into genuine enthusiasm.

“The university choir is not just music, but also friendship!” affirms Katia Werkmeister. It is quite possible that the special nature of music helps in this regard. After all, singing is not only good for one’s health, but promotes community as well, as Mäntyjärvi observes: “You become part of something greater, which you could never bring into being alone. Ideally, you enter a state of flow – an experience of complete immersion in the music.”

For the concert, see:

“Libertas! New choral music in a spirit of freedom”
Munich University Choir presents works by Schütz, Nystedt, Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Tippett, Fußeder, Miller, Gjeilo, and Mäntyjärvi. Piano: Tobias Stork
Sunday, 3 August 2025, 7:30 p.m.; Monday, 4 August 2025, 7:30 p.m.
Great Aula at LMU