classical choral repertoire with an emphasis on world music depending on focus of the next concert. There are over 20 different nationalities in our choir and not one common language. They generally make it through with German and English, but sometimes some Russian, Japanese, Estonian, Spanish, French, or a few other translations are required. Although some of the countries have great political tension between them, the problems in choir disappear in making music.

The Diplomatic Choir of Berlin began on November 5th, 2013 at the Philippine Embassy. On November 8th, Typhoon Hayun hit the Philippines. Three weeks later, on November 27th they sang their first concert, a Benefit for the Philippine Typhoon Victims at the Rotes Rathaus. That was the beginning of many more concerts. They have performed many times at the German Federal Foreign Offices, in many different events, including for Minister Steinmeier, who is now President of Germany, Sigmar Gabriel, and Heiko Maas at their yearly holiday celebration.

In 2015 they gave a benefit concert for Ebola help at Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche. They had the fortune of having members from the Rundfunk orchestra join them, and also two percussionists from Ghana for a program including classical, romantic, and African repertoire. They made their first CD, DVD, Blu-ray of that concert. From that concert they were invited to participate in the Young Euro Classic festival – one of the world’s most important international music festivals for young orchestra musicians, at Berlin’s Konzerthaus. The repertoire was Arvo Pärt and Giya Kancelli, along with 120 piece orchestra.

The 2016 spring season began with their second large concert at the Kaiser-Wilhelm-Gedächtniskirche in a ‘Konzert ohne Grenzen’ with The Chamber Ensemble of the Syrian Expat Philharmonic Orchestra (SEPO). On November 8th we had the wonderful opportunity to join with the Staatsoper Kinderchor in a joint concert helping them to raise funds for a United States Tour meeting the best American youth choirs.  The choir especially enjoyed the greatness of this young choir and to sing together with them was a thrilling moment.

On April 26th, 2018, the choir made their Berliner Dom debut with “Konzert ohne Grenzen – Unter gleichem Himmel.” A coming together of Judaic, Islamic, and Christian music and musicians. It was a magical moment for the audience and performers. It was the culmination of their theme of different religions and cultures coming together, stepping out of their comfort zones, working together, and creating through music, a tolerant and peaceful coexistence. The choir was invited back to repeat the concert on May 23, 2019 in the Berliner Dom. The concert was then followed by a performance of the program at the Strasbourg Cathedral in France on June 15, 2019.

With the onslaught of the war in Ukraine, the main focus of the choir in 2022 was to seek to help with the refugee situation in Berlin. Our commitment was to find refugee musicians from Ukraine and give them community and place where they could give voice to their artistic talents. In total, we have worked with over two dozen refugees since April 2022 and performed numerous times together. With great success, we presented two large solo concerts of the choir in June and July in the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church and in the Berliner Dome. We performed with the National Youth Orchestra of the United States under the auspices of Carnegie Hall and the American Embassy in Berlin. We performed for the Second Gentleman to the United States, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Humboldt Forum, the Berliner Berlinale, and many more.