Cooperations
The Audi Young Persons’ Choral Academy performs with well-known artists and orchestras such as Kent Nagano, the London Symphony Orchestra or the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin. Further, the choir is a regular guest at renowned festivals and concert halls around the world. In January 2017, the choir performed at the opening celebration of the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg. So far, the Audi Young Persons’ Choral Academy undertook international concert tours to Taiwan, Singapore and to the Vatican.
Martin Steidler
Artistic Director
Martin Steidler holds a professorship for Choral Conducting at the University of Music and Performing Arts (Hochschule für Musik und Theater) in Munich. In this capacity, Martin Steidler directs, among other things, the University’s renowned Madrigal Choir who has won first prizes at the Deutscher Chorwettbewerb (German Choral Competition) 2014 in Weimar and at the 2015 competition “Let the Peoples sing” (in the category of Adult Choirs), promoted by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
In 1993, Martin Steidler founded the Heinrich-Schütz-Ensemble Vornbach. Under his direction, the ensemble became an icon of choral music in Bavaria and has achieved top results in international choir competitions as well as a 3rd prize at the German Choral Competition 2014 in Weimar.
Since 2008, Martin Steidler is the artistic director of the Audi Young Persons’ Choral Academy, working closely together with renowned artists and ensembles including Kent Nagano, the Bayerisches Staatsorchester, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, the Bayerisches Rundfunkorchester and the Georgisches Kammerorchester Ingolstadt.
Engagements as a guest conductor or jury member have lead him to many European countries as well as to the USA, Asia and South America. Martin Steidler has received several awards including the main award of the Stiftung Bücher-Dieckmeyer – in particular for his musical work with the Heinrich-Schütz-Ensemble Vornbach – and the prize of the Stiftung Europäisches Konzerthaus Passau.
Barbara Bübl
Soprano
Soprano Barbara Bübl studied Church Music at the College of Catholic Church Music and Musical Education (Hochschule für katholische Kirchenmusik & Musikpädagogik) in Regensburg, as well as Vocal Pedagogy with Professor Christian Schmidt-Timmermann, and took part in several master classes with renowned professors. Doing concert performances as a soloist and with ensembles with a focus on early music, Barbara Bübl performs with well-known conductors and broadcasting companies. Besides, she teaches Children’s Vocal Training and Vocal Training for Choirs at the College of Catholic Church Music and Musical Education in Regensburg as well as in individual private classes. In her capacity as a vocal coach, she works, among others, with the Audi Young Persons’ Choral Academy, the Heinrich-Schütz-Ensemble Vornbach and the Gesellschaft der Musikfreunde Passau. In addition, Barbara Bübl is the artistic director of several choirs in her hometown Wiesent, such as the “Swimmy” gospel choir, the Wiesent Children’s Choir, and the Wiesent Mini Children’s Choir.
Christian M. Schmidt
Christian M. Schmidt discovered his voice and the love for music while making music at home with his family and in the local church choir. After graduating from high school, he studied music at the University of Music and Performing Arts (Hochschule für Musik und Theater) in Munich with degrees in Teaching at High Schools and Voice (Opera, Art Song, Oratorio).
Christian M. Schmidt has built a long-lasting international career as performer and teacher. He has performed with numerous internationally renowned artists and ensembles in concerts, radio and TV broadcasts from Capetown to Stockholm and from San Francisco to Tokyo. More than 50 CD recordings, many and the most important of which are with the world-famous vocal ensemble “Singphoniker”, show both his musical quality and his wide spectrum of styles. For many years, Christian M. Schmidt has joined the Munich Staatstheater am Gärtnerplatz as a guest.
Already during his studies, Christian M. Schmidt started teaching, inter alia, at the Mozarteum University in Innsbruck and the University of Music in Augsburg. Since 2004, Christian M. Schmidt is a professor for Voice at the College of Catholic Church Music and Musical Education (Hochschule für katholische Kirchenmusik & Musikpädagogik) in Regensburg.
Jean Pierre Faber
pianist and conducto
Jean Pierre Faber is a Luxembourg born pianist and conductor. He studied music in Paris with Magda Tagliaferro and at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg with Kurt Neumüller, Gerhard Wimberger, Paul von Schilhawsky and Sandor Vegh. From 1970 to 1990, he was a leading coach of the Salzburg Festival, working with the most famous singers and conductors of our time. As an opera conductor, Jean Pierre Faber conducted a large repertoire of more than 50 different operas, including several world premieres, in Germany, Denmark, France, Italy, Austria, Poland, Switzerland, Hungary and the USA. As a pianist partner for chamber music, he has performed all over Europe, the USA, Canada and Japan. Jean Pierre Faber teaches at the College of Catholic Church Music and Musical Education (Hochschule für katholische Kirchenmusik & Musikpädagogik) in Regensburg and at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg. Since its foundation, Jean Pierre Faber works with the Audi Young Persons’ Choral Academy as a répétiteur and accompanist and forms part of its leading team.
Nataliya Lukina
Nataliya Lukina studied music at the Kharkiv Conservatory and Academy of Arts in Ukraine and at the University of Music and Performing Arts Graz (Austria), graduating with a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Choir and Orchestra Conducting. Since 2008 Nataliya Lukina works as an assistant to Martin Steidler at the Audi Young Persons’ Choral Academy. In 2011/2012, she worked as an artistic assistant at the Steirischer Landesjugendchor Cantanima. From 2014 to 2016, Nataliya Lukina was the artistic director of the Landesjugendchor Südtirol (Italy), winning first prizes at the international choral competition PRAGA CANTAT 2016 (categories Mixed Choirs and Sacred Music). In the same competition, Nataliya Lukina was awarded the jury´s special prize for outstanding conductor and a special award for the competition program. Further, Nataliya Lukina works as a jury member and expert on choral conducting and voice training.
Sibrand Basa
voice coach
Tenor Sibrand Basa began his career as a church musician before moving to the opera stage as a soloist. His repertoire includes various composers such as Monteverdi and Aribert Reimann, and a variety of roles, such as Tamino, Nemorino and Steuermann (Steersman). In 2008, the Land of Bavaria honored Sibrand Basa with the title of “Kammersänger” for his artistic work. Sibrand Basa also focuses on art songs and oratorios, in particular the Passions by Johann Sebastian Bach. In addition to his career as an opera singer, Sibrand Basa started working as a voice coach, vocal and speech trainer in 1994 at different universities of music and as a freelancer. Since 2008, he works as a voice coach with the Audi Young Persons’ Choral Academy.
Sonja Lachenmayr
Assistant
Sonja Lachenmayr studied Jazz Singing at the Nuremberg University of Music (Musikhochschule Nürnberg) and music teaching and did her Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Choir Conducting at the Hochschule für Musik und Theater München. Her musical career began at the age of five, playing harp, piano, flute and later on trombone. Work shadowing, concerts and performances with different ensembles, orchestras and choirs, as well as concert tours within Europe, the US, to Oman, Egypt and Tanzania formed her to become a multifaceted musician.
She is head of the renowned concert choir Gospels at Heaven since 2016. In 2021, Lachenmayr founded the sustainable New World Orchestra. The same year, she was admitted to the Forum Dirigieren. At the start of 2022, Lachenmayer finished her Master’s degree in Orchestra Conducting. Since 2020, she holds an assistant position at Audi Young Persons’ Choral Academy.
