La Chapelle Rhénane
Founded in 2001 by tenor Benoit Haller, la Chapelle Rhénane is a musical ensemble of lyrical and instrumental soloists. The team is dedicated to the reread of the great works of European vocal repertoire. Its ambition is, through concerts and recordings, to reveal in these works the emotion, humanity and modernity that can seduce a wide contemporary audience.

Since its start in 2003, the activity of la Chapelle Rhénane has been intimately linked to the work of Heinrich Schütz. It is through this composer that the ensemble forged its unique sound and deep human bonds. Subsequently, the ensemble began to play the music of Joh. Seb. Bach, in particular through the creation of the St. John Passion – whose outcome was the release of the recording by the end of March 2010 under the label ZigZag Territories – and the creation of the St. Matthew Passion in 2009. The Christmas Oratorio followed those ambitious projects in fall 2010.

Since 2007, la Chapelle Rhénane performed in some of the best-known French stages, such as the Cité de la Musique in Paris, the Arsenal de Metz or festivals like Sarrebourg, Sablé sur Sarthe, St. Riquier, La Chaise-Dieu, Sinfonia en Périgord, The Mad Day of Nantes. The ensemble also played abroad ; in Germany (Tage Alter Musik Regensburg, Thüringer Bachwochen), in Switzerland (Bach Festival in Lausanne, Atelier musical de Gruyères), in Austria (Resonanzen Wien) and in Poland (Katowice). In 2009, la Chapelle Rhénane went to Peru, Colombia and Chile. In 2018, the ensemble was invited by the esteemed BachFest in Leipzig to perform the St. Matthew Passion. In 2019, la Chapelle Rhénane carried on its international development in Budapest and for the first time in North America, in the renowned Bourgie Hall in Montreal.

Seven discs of la Chapelle Rhénane have been released under the label K617 - four of them were devoted to Heinrich Schütz. Each of them was praised by the press and many received awards. In 2010 was published the St. John by ZigZag Territoires label. The last discs of la Chapelle Rhénane published in 2019 by Christophorus is dedicated to Johann Rosenmüller and Heinrich Schütz.

La Chapelle Rhénane is supported by the Ministry of Culture and Communication – DRAC Grand Est, Grand Est Region and the City of Strasbourg. Other strong partners put their trust in la Chapelle Rhénane including the Orange Foundation, the Foundation Royaumont – Voice Center and Les Gémeaux – Scène Nationale de Sceaux (direction Françoise Letellier). The ensemble is also supported by the Adami.

Benoît Haller
After beginning his musical training in Alsace, Benoît Haller studied choral and orchestral conducting with Hans Michael Beuerle at the Musikhochschule in Freiburg im Breisgau, where he was awarded his higher diploma with the jury’s congratulations in 1996. Masterclasses with personalities like Eric Ericson, Pierre Cao and Frieder Bernius completed his training. In parallel with this he studied singing in Strasbourg with Hélène Roth, and from 1997 onwards with Beata Heuer-Christen, Gerd Heinz and Hans Peter Müller at the Musikhochschule of Freiburg, where he performed the role of Ferrando in Mozart’s Così fan tutte (2000) and the title role in Britten’s Albert Herring (2002). During these years, tours with ensembles like Collegium Vocale Gent (Philippe Herreweghe) and the Kammerchor Stuttgart (Frieder Bernius) took him all over Europe, Asia, and the USA. As a singer, he makes regular appearances in opera, particularly baroque (Handel’s Almira, Purcell’s King Arthur), and is a noted interpreter of the Passions and cantatas of Bach as well as the major choral works of Mozart, Haydn, Mendelssohn, and Berlioz. He has recorded music by Schütz (Akadêmia/Françoise Lasserre), Rosenmüller (Cantus Cölln/Konrad Junghänel), Telemann (Balthasar Neumann Ensemble/Thomas Hengelbrock), Mozart (Peter Neumann), and Gossec (Jean-Claude Malgoire).

In 2001, Benoît Haller founded the baroque ensemble « La Chapelle Rhénane » to bring together French and German musician friends. He has directed the ensemble ever since, conducting the four great Bach's oratorios, Händel’s Messiah, and many other major vocal and instrumental works. In 2020, he will conduct Bach's Motets with « La Chapelle Rhénane ». With this ensemble, he has taken part in all the major festivals in France and further afield. Since 2004, the nine CDs of the ensemble, all extremely well reviewed by the specialised press, demonstrate the serious nature of the work of the conductor and its evident sincerity. In 2009 Benoît Haller conducted the « Orchestre Régional de Bayonne Côte-Basque » in Carl Philip Emmanuel Bach’s Die Letzten Leiden des Erlösers. As a singer as well as a conductor, he regularly teaches in masterclasses in France and abroad.