A choir performs as a single musical body. But before voices blend, schedules must align, rehearsals must be arranged, productions prepared and programmes matched to the available forces. Martina Elmer will take over as manager of the Bavarian Radio Chorus on 1 November 2026. Bayerischer Rundfunk lists her responsibilities as personnel and organisational management, alongside involvement in programme planning, productions and guest appearances.
This is a change behind the scenes — but not on the margins of the art itself. Those who plan which vocal forces are possible and when a work can be rehearsed shape the conditions in which the choir makes music. How Elmer intends to fulfil this responsibility has not yet been publicly documented in statements of her own. A profile must therefore also examine the role she is taking on.
Planning is part of making music
Choir management means translating artistic ambitions into everyday working practice: which voices does a programme require? How can rehearsals, recordings and performances with different musical partners be coordinated? And how can a radio choir retain a distinctive identity while also participating in other ensembles’ productions? These are questions arising from the remit — not documented statements about Elmer’s specific decisions.
Susanne Vongries described how closely organisation and sound can be connected in a 2001 interview with the magazine ‘Oper & Tanz’. At the time, she listed work schedules, concert venues, negotiations with conductors and soloists, and devising the choir’s own concerts among her responsibilities. Balancing different periods and genres and nurturing contemporary music were also priorities in her programming. The interview documents Vongries’ perspective at the time; it does not predict which priorities Elmer will set.
A change with a limited public picture
According to the BR announcement, Elmer joins from the Budapest Festival Orchestra, where she headed artistic programming and tour planning. Before that, she reportedly spent eight years as a concert officer at the Salzburg Festival. There, the announcement states, she was responsible for establishing the cross-disciplinary youth programme ‘jung & jede*r’ during the 2020/21 anniversary season. BR lists her fields of study as applied musicology with clarinet, business administration, and music and cultural management.
This amounts to a professional profile at the intersection of music, planning and engagement. What these career stages will mean for Elmer’s work with the BR Choir cannot, however, be reliably inferred from them. Which projects she herself would like to prioritise also remains an open question. That requires her own voice — and more than a staffing announcement.
What becomes visible behind the sound
The change nevertheless makes clear that artistic continuity is not created at the conductor’s podium alone. A professional choir needs reliable processes, sound staffing plans and programmes suited to its capabilities and responsibilities. This work cannot be heard as an individual voice. But it helps determine which music can reach the stage and the studio at all.
Elmer takes on the role within an organisation whose programming is closely linked to artistic leadership and other partners. There is currently no evidence as to whether this will lead to new formats or shifts in emphasis. The true portrait of her work will therefore emerge only when the planning becomes audible to the public: in the works, the vocal line-ups and the spaces that the BR Choir will fill with sound in future.
Original reviewed by the editors · 26 October 2026
