The vocal ensemble SCHOLA HEIDELBERG has been bridging the gap between early music and new vocal music since its foundation more than 30 years ago. The ensemble's soloists have mastered a wide variety of styles and vocal techniques and - always away from the usual repertoire - allow the works of the 16th/17th and 20th/21st centuries to fertilise each other. The intensive relationship between historical performance practice and contemporary music gives rise to a new culture of interpretation.
Walter Nußbaum studied church music and conducting, was a cantor in Heidelberg until 1992 and then Professor of Choral Conducting at the Hanover University of Music and Theatre until 2015. He founded the SCHOLA HEIDELBERG and the ensemble aisthesis in 1992. His specialisms range from early vocal music to contemporary vocal and instrumental works. He has worked closely with composers such as Heinz Holliger, Helmut Lachenmann, Bernhard Lang, Caspar Johannes Walter, Hans Zender, Johannes Kalitzke, Carola Bauckholt, Rebecca Saunders, Georg Friedrich Haas, Peter Eötvös, Salvatore Sciarrino and others and discovered the compositional oeuvre of René Leibowitz (double CD, Divox). Numerous world premieres, music theatre productions (Bregenz Festival, Mannheim National Theatre) and collaborations (including Nono's Prometeo, Salzburg Festival), conducting at the Venice Biennale, Lucerne Festival, Salzburg Biennale, Steirischer Herbst, Milano Musica, Musica viva Munich, Ultraschall Berlin, Wittener Tage für neue Kammermusik, Schwetzinger Festspiele, Tongyeong Festival and many more international CD awards: Diapason d'or, Choc etc.