The aim and ideal of the Munich-based Vokalensemble 1600 is to perform sophisticated vocal music of the late Renaissance and early Baroque periods with a clear, consistent and transparent sound.
Under the direction of Christoph Garbe, the singers work on compositions dating from around the year 1600. Their repertoire includes masterpieces by Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Orlando di Lasso and Heinrich Schütz, as well as musical treasures that are rarely heard in concerts.
Through its expressive performances and thematically focused programme selection, the Vokalensemble 1600 brings to life what moved people in times gone by. It is of great importance to the ensemble to present sacred music in the liturgy in accordance with its original purpose. The highlight to date has been the performance at a High Mass in St Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna in August 2026. The concert programmes also feature secular madrigals, for example by Josquin Desprez and Claudio Monteverdi, performed a cappella and with accompaniment by period instruments. Works by contemporary composers provide further highlights.
The Vokalensemble 1600 has accepted invitations to perform from Berlin to Venice. The singers perform in groups ranging from eight to sixteen members and value their collaboration with instrumentalists from the early music scene.
Under its first musical director and co-founder, the renowned church musician Christoph Hauser (Ottobeuren Basilica), the Vokalensemble 1600 established itself on Munich’s early music scene, as documented, for example, in the music videos from the summer of 2021. The recording of Lasso’s ‘A quanti già felici’ was selected by a panel of experts for the special ‘music video’ category of the 2022 Bavarian Choir Competition.
In the summer of 2025, the vocal ensemble was delighted to appoint Christoph Garbe as its musical director. With his expertise in compositional structures, his skill as a professional singer specialising in church music, and his highly distinctive conducting style, he is playing a decisive role in shaping the ensemble into a cohesive, richly textured ensemble. Flexibility in singing and breathing technique, uniformity and clarity in the onset and sustain of the tone, the – by southern German standards – extreme range of vowel and consonant colours, and the differentiation of dynamics right down to pianissimo are encouraged and demanded of every ensemble member.
Christoph Garbe, who grew up in Murnau (Bavaria), teaches young musicians at the Vocational School of Music in Krumbach in conducting, choral singing, choral conducting, sight-reading and piano. As a soloist and ensemble member, he sings in various projects, for example with ‚capella cathedralis‘ at the Cathedral of Our Lady in Munich. For many years, he has conducted various choirs specialising in classical and contemporary music, ranging from a cappella repertoire to oratorios. As a child, he was a member and soloist in the Boys’ Choir ‚Tölzer Knabenchor‘ and subsequently studied functional-physiological voice training and singing at the Bavarian Singakademie under the guidance of Kurt Suttner, who became his mentor. He subsequently studied music at the Richard Strauss Conservatoire in Munich and at the Zurich University of the Arts. During his travels, he studied various conducting styles and, over several years, attended masterclasses with Jorma Panula in Finland.
Salve Regina (Robert Lucas Pearsall), Vokalensemble 1600
Gloria, Messe La Bataille (Clément Janequin), Vokalensemble 1600
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