Night of Choirs

Come and be serenaded by choirs from all over, as they celebrate the Night of Choirs (Nacht der Chöre) with nine hours of heavenly music.

Night of Choirs

On June 15, St. Peter's Church in Hamburg hosts the 32nd edition of the Night of Choirs, where almost 30 choirs will gather to sing through the evening until midnight. The music is varied, despite the church location, and ranges from Renaissance music to a cappella pop. The choirs themselves are also all different, with some being small vocal ensembles and others large choirs.

The venue

St Peter's Church is a beautiful location to listen to the choirs. While it has been substantially rebuilt over time, it is the oldest remaining church in Hamburg. It was probably founded as early as the start of the 11th century.

The tower also offers the highest viewpoint over Hamburg, so if you want you can arrive early and stretch your legs with the 544 steps to the top.

What you might hear at Night of Choirs

The night is always truly varied, and each choir will sing several pieces. The programme for this edition hadn't been released at time of publication, but at the last edition, old favourites such as Wagner, Mozart and Purcell rubbed up against more modern songs such as Coldplay and Dido.

There was also gospel music, old and new, such as Your Love Keeps Lifting Me (Higher and Higher) by Jackie Wilson and Plenty Good Room (On The Glory Train) by Kirby Shaw. 

Prepare for the night

The event runs from 3pm to midnight, and there are short breaks throughout the night. The full programme is available on the Night of Choirs website. The event is free, but donations are welcome. Half will go to covering the costs of the event, and half will go to Diakonie Katastrophenhilfe, a protestant disaster relief charity.

We recommend arriving by public transport. St. Peters Church is extremely close to the Rathaus U-Bahn station, and no more than a 5-minute walk from the Jungfernstieg station or a 10-minute walk from Hamburg Hbf.