The Ensemble 22

Ensemble 22 was founded in 1998 by Dr. Ulrich Haspel and, together with the University Choir and the Student Madrigal Choir, is part of the collegium musicum vocale of the University of Münster.

The ensemble has earned itself an excellent reputation not only in Westphalia and Germany, but also in other European countries. Shortly after its foundation, it won the III. International Choir Festival in Grado in the categories “Sacred Music” and “Mixed Voice Vocal Ensembles”.

The highlights over the years have been various concert tours. After the first trip to Italy in 2001, with performances in Bologna, Florence, Rome and Venice, tours through Denmark and Norway followed in 2003 and 2005 with concerts in Christiansfeld, Søgne, Kristiansand, Tonstad and Bergen. In September 2004, the ensemble performed in Leipzig's St. Thomas Church and at the 5th German Edvard Grieg Congress. Another highlight was the last concert tour to France in 2018, with performances in Orléans, Poitiers and Le Mans, which led to a close friendship and connection with the local partner choirs.

In addition to numerous concerts and performances of major choral works such as Mozart's “Requiem” in D minor (2015), Tippett's “A child of our time” (2018) and Brahms' “Ein deutsches Requiem” (2019) with the student madrigal choir and the university choir, the ensemble also took part in the “Neue Wände” concert series on several occasions. It had the privilege of premiering new music by composers such as Wolfgang Stockmeier and Matthias Bayer in 2017 and 2018.

In summer 2019, Marion Wood became the new choir director of Ensemble 22, and despite the challenges of the pandemic, she managed to keep the singers motivated, whether through rehearsals via Zoom or later with social distancing and masks outdoors. During the coronavirus lockdown, she led the pioneering music project mozart.distant, which pioneered virtual music installations in real physical spaces and reached audiences in person despite the restrictions. Singers from Ensemble 22 actively participated in this project. More information can be found at https://www.uni-muenster.de/Kustodie/mozart-distant/.
In summer 2023, Marion Wood handed over the directorship to Volker Hagemann, who gave his debut concert in November with music by Bach and Schnittke.

Under the conduction of Volker Hagemann the Ensemble brought the CMV-project Elias by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and the concert Hoffe! in cooperation with the Ensemble Ex Praeterito to the stage. The premiere of Mysterium Montis by Carl Rütti, which was performed in Bozen, Italy, as well as in The Holy Cross Church in Münster enthralled the audiences and will be remembered for a long time.
With the appointment to the professorship for choral conducting at the University for Church Music of the Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart, Volker Hagemann stepped down as musical director of Ensemble22 in September 2025.

Since the winter semester of 2025/26 Nils Hientzsch and Henrik Wilkens have taken over the conduction of the Ensemble22.

The ensemble's next projects in the summer semester 2026 is the concert "Im Strom der Zeit".