Photo: Lennart Preiss

Ripon Cathedral Choir’s tour of Bavaria has been hailed a great success with standing ovations at its concerts and acclaim by German media.

The choir sang services and concerts at venues including Munich Cathedral, Regensburg Cathedral, Waldsassen Basilica and Nuremberg Frauenkirche.

The tour of Germany was the latest exciting chapter in a story which has seen the renaissance of a dwindling choir over a two-year period, under the leadership of Director of Music, Dr Ronny Krippner.

The Dean of Ripon, the Very Rev John Dobson spoke of the warmth and gratitude of the German people. He said: “I am delighted that Dr Krippner suggested bringing our wonderful cathedral choir to his native Bavaria. This is the most exciting tour we have done in a generation. It is truly humbling to see how welcoming and appreciative the German congregations and audiences have been. Ripon choristers will love Bavaria for evermore.”

In its review, the newspaper Der Neue Tag spoke of ‘Top-class choral music from the UK’. It went on to say, ‘The audience in the Basilica was given a magnificent concert experience by the Cathedral Choir of Ripon Cathedral.  Under the direction of Dr. Ronny Krippner, who grew up in Waldsassen and Marktredwitz, the choir put together a demanding, top-class programme on Sunday afternoon… The choir’s singing was characterized by total precision.’

‘With close attention, discipline and concentration throughout, the singers followed the direction of their leader, who has held the position of Director of Music at Ripon Cathedral since 2022.  The cathedral choir consists of a boys’ choir, a girls’ choir and six professional singers.  They were all delighted with the standing applause from the audience at the end of the concert which was almost sold out.’

It has been a remarkable journey for a choir which was badly hit by the pandemic – Covid had made recruitment impossible and numbers were falling; the boys’ choir folded, with boys and girls singing together. However, following three large scale recruitment drives at schools in the region there are now more than 60 choristers and a growing number of choral scholars – older students who were either choristers or have joined since.

The choir’s next exciting event will be the release of its first commercial CD ready for Christmas, which will go on sale in the autumn!