In Bach's time the exalted place the purely vocal motet had once occupied had already been ceded to the cantata. But alongside this artfully simple ‘functional’ style, Bach perpetuated in his own motets, with incomparable mastery, the tradition handed down by his own ancestors, as preserved in the so-called ‘Old Bach Archive’.

Vocalconsort Berlin was founded in 2003 and made its debut the same year in Monteverdi´s L’Orfeo under the direction of René Jacobs at the Innsbruck Festival. The ensemble specialises in early and high Baroque repertoire, but also interprets Romantic and contemporary music. Under the direction of Marcus Creed, René Jacobs, Jos van Immerseel and Ottavio Dantone, the ensemble has worked with the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin and the Accademia Bizantina. With the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, it has participated since 2006 in the projects of Sasha Waltz & Guests at Radialsystem V, the new venue for interaction of the arts on the Spree. Marcus Creed, artistic director of the SWR Vokalensemble (South West German Radio Choir) since 2003, studied at King’s College Cambridge, Christ Church Oxford and at the Guildhall. From 1977 to 1998 he was chorusmaster at the Deutsche Oper. In 1987 he became artistic director of RIAS Kammerchor, being awarded many international prizes for his recordings. He has formed close working relationships with Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Freiburger Barockorchester and Concerto Köln. His recordings of works by Bruckner, Ives, Nono and Kurtág with the SWR Vokalensemble have received a number of awards from the critics.