"... [a] technically accomplished, musically unmannered and highly soul-satisfying account of Bach's masterpiece"
The Cleveland Plain Dealer

Ensemble Corund
Stephen Smith, Artistic Director & Conductor

Biographical Information

The great Swiss choir, Ensemble Corund, was founded in Lucerne in 1993 by Stephen Smith. The 20 singers are all professional soloists, who tour, record and perform internationally. Each program uses varied forces, depending on the repertoire, and the choir may tour with as few as eight vocalists.

Specializing in the sacred music of the Renaissance and Baroque and vocal music of the 20th century, Ensemble Corund is a frequent guest at festivals such as the IMF Lucerne, the Internationales Chorforum in Frankfurt, Germany and Contemporanea in Trieste, Italy. They made their first tour of the United States in 1998 under a grant from the Swiss-American Cultural Exchange Council and have returned twice since. Recent CD releases have included Navidad Iberica: Spanish Christmas Music and Villancicos from the Renaissance (Dorian Recordings, 2002); Works for Choir and Orchestra of J.S. Bach; Bach's St. John's Passion; and a live recording of Händel's Messiah (2001); Navidad Ibérica, Renaissance Christmas music from the Iberian Peninsula (1997); Vielfalt der Formen, commissioned by the churches of German-speaking Switzerland (1998); and Ensemble Corund: A portrait (1998).

At the "Rencontres Chorales Internationales” in Montreux in April 1997 the ensemble won the Bärenreiter Prize for the best program and the best performance. Ensemble Corund collaborates frequently with its partner baroque orchestra Capriccio Basel.


STEPHEN SMITH, Biography

Born and brought up in the American South East, Stephen Smith studied organ at Furman University in South Carolina before moving to Switzerland to complete his studies with Monika Henking and Rudolf Meier, earning the Konzertdiplom in Organ at the Winterthur Conservatory in 1988. Based in the canton of Lucerne since 1982, he has appeared as guest solo organist at festivals in St. Blasien, Germany, St. Mark’s, Bermuda, and the Bach Festival of Lombardy as well as at numerous festivals in Switzerland. With several CD and radio recordings to his credit,
he is in demand as a choral and instrumental conductor, teacher and adjudicator (including judging for the International Composition Festival for Sacred Music in Fribourg). Smith directs the Kantorei at the historic Matthäuskirche. He has directed Ensemble Corund since its founding in 1993 and is also conductor of the Lucerne Studio Choir. Concert engagements with these ensembles have taken him throughout Europe and the United States.