The second best choir in Germany

From 7 to 11 June, the Psycho Choir of the University of Jena took part in the German Choir Competition in Hanover. There, the 58 singers around choir director Maximilian Lörzer took second place in the category "Pop/Jazz" with 24.0 out of 25 points and the highest rating of "excellent" behind the Munich choir "Ostbahngroove" (24.2 points). "24 points is a sensational result," says Maximilian Lörzer. "Already from 23 points you are in the highest evaluation class and belong to the absolute top choirs in Germany. But 24 points is a result that is only achieved absolutely rarely. We can hardly put into words what we experienced in Hanover and what performance we were able to call up. We are really happy."

The Psycho choir's result was not only the second highest score in the pop category, but even the second best result of the entire competition across all categories. Even the choirs from what are often called the "top categories", i.e. the chamber choirs, the choirs of the music academies and the ensembles with admitted professional singers, had to fall in behind the choir that had formed in 2011 at the Institute of Psychology at the University of Jena. "We are now officially among the best choirs there are in Germany – that makes us incredibly proud, of course, but on the other hand it also brings a lot of pressure to have to prove this result again and again. We can't hide anymore now, people expect something from us now." The Psycho Choir has represented the Friedrich Schiller University and the city of Jena worthily on the very big stage, Lörzer is sure. In fact, the choir achieved the highest score ever achieved by a choir from Thuringia in the history of the German Choir Competition.

Those who want to hear the choir live can do so on 2 July in the children's concerts or on 8 July in the end-of-semester concerts in the Volksbad Jena. Tickets can already be purchased online at www.psycho-chor.deExternal link and at the Tourist Information Jena.