Artistic direction
Philipp Schmidlin has taken over as artistic director of Audite Nova Zug from 1 May 2023.
Philipp Schmidlin works as a choir director and voice teacher at the Zug Singschule, as well as performing throughout Switzerland as a tenor in several professional ensembles (Ensemble Corund, J.S. Bach-Stiftung St. Gallen, Ensemble Glarean) and as a soloist.
His repertoire with amateur and professional choirs includes works for a cappella choirs, orchestral masses, and choral symphonic and oratorio works.
He organises sing-along concerts with his ensembles, as well as CD and video productions.
In his school years, he founded the ‘Cantalon’ vocal ensemble and was its director for ten years. Cantalon won two prizes at the Swiss Choir Competition and was a finalist at the International Competition for Chamber Choirs Mosbach in 2016 (jury: Marcus Creed, Frieder Bernius). The ensemble also sang at the opening of the International Youth Choir Centre in Hanover and at the ‘Stunde der Kirchenmusik Stuttgart’. Invitations to festivals such as the European Youth Choir Festival Basel EYCF and productions with Radio Suisse Romande and Swiss Radio SRF complement Cantalon’s concert activities.
Philipp Schmidlin was cantor and church musician in charge of the Heilig Kreuz (Holy Cross) parish in Binningen from 2015 to 2019.
He studied conducting, church music, school music and singing in Lucerne and Zurich, and attended master classes with Paul Phoenix (King’s Singers), Simon Halsey and Wolfgang Schäfer.
Johannes Meister, conductor of Audite Nova Zug from 1999 to 2023, received his artistic training at the Cologne Academy of Music (Musikhochschule Köln) and the Vienna Conservatory (Musikhochschule Wien).
After obtaining his diploma in orchestral conducting, he attended master classes in orchestral conducting with Leonard Bernstein and in choral direction with Eric Ericson. His first artistic engagement in 1987 brought him to Switzerland for the first time, where he became choral director of the Lucerne Theatre. He also assumed the direction of various choirs at the Lucerne Conservatory and the Lucerne Community Music School.
From 1994 to 1998, Johannes Meister was the choral director at the Vienna State Opera, and began his regular activity as a guest conductor of German radio choruses at the same time.
He returned to Switzerland in 1998, and became the artistic director of the Audite Nova Choir of Zug in the following year. He was also appointed as the artistic director of the St. Johannes Church Choir, the Concert Choir and the Vocal Ensemble of the Music School of Zug, as well as the Cantus Zug vocal ensemble.
He is the principal lecturer in a Swiss study programme for choirmasters, is also active on the board of the Swiss Federation Europa Cantat and is a senior examiner for the Swiss Choral Union.
