Markus Karas at Saint Maroun Maronite Church

Markus Karas at The Beirut Chants Festival 2013.

He studied church music at the Academy of Music and the Performing Arts in Frankfurt am Main, before receiving his academic degree as a concert soloist in 1987.

Winner of the first prize at the Limburger-Dom-Orgelwettbewerb (1985), he has been organist at the Bonn Minster and the conductor of its choirs since 1989. In addition, he became the regional cantor of the entire Bonn deanery (1992), and has since conducted and played at the Beethovenfest Bonn.

In 2001 he took on the musical direction of BonnSonata, Bonn’s nationally and internationally acclaimed women’s chamber choir, as well as the youth choir of the Rheinischer Kinder- und Jugendchor Bonn.

For Beirut Chants, he will present a work of style, reviving Advent and Christmas traditions celebrated worldwide, notably improvising on old and new songs. The programme includes works of Johann Sebastian Bach, Johannes Brahms and Max Reger. From France, he will present works covering periods from the Baroque until the Modern time, in addition to spiritually inspired American songs.