A forerunner was a chamber choir, "Kammerchor des Kölner Senders", founded in 1927 for the "Reichssender Köln" that was dissolved in 1940. WDR Rundfunkchor Köln was founded in Cologne as Kölner Rundfunkchor (Cologne Radio Choir) in 1947. The first rehearsal was on 1 September in the hall of the church St. Agnes. Bernhard Zimmermann rehearsed Mozart's Ave verum corpus.[1] The choir was at first the Cologne choir of the broadcaster Nordwestdeutscher Rundfunk (NWDR), while the Hamburg choir was the NWDR Chor. When the broadcaster split in 1956 into NDR and WDR,[2] the Kölner Rundfunkchor became the choir of the Westdeutscher Rundfunk.
Program
Poster for the premiere of Stockhausen's Momente on 21 May 1962
The choir of 45 singers has a repertory of medieval music to contemporary music, sacred music, oratorio, operetta, and music of computer games and film. The regularly perform cantatas and a cappella works in churches of the region. A series Musik am Mittag (Music at noon) in the Minoritenkirche invites the audience to participate.
In 2012, the WDR Rundfunkchor Köln was awarded the Echo Klassik in the category best choral recording for György Ligeti's Requiem.
Choral directors
In its history, the choir had several chief conductors (Chefdirigent). Later the position of choral conductor (Chorleiter) was distinguished. They have been:
1947–1962: Bernhard Zimmermann (previously held the same position in the choir of the original Westdeutsche Funkstunde, 1927–1933)[1][5]
