Bernd Oliver Käter (43), tenor 2, member of the BOC since 2023
Bernd, you are a new member of the BOC, welcome. Where does your musical interest come from?
Bernd: During and after primary school, I took keyboard lessons for a few years and played the flute. Ten years ago, I came up with the idea of singing a serenade and playing the piano for a wedding. “Alles was Du wissen musst” by Tim Bendzko, not classical at all. That gave my cousin the idea of taking me along to her choir. After that, singing in a choir helped me to make friends during a longer stay in New York. Back in Berlin, I took piano lessons with Andrea Wissel and finally learnt to play the left hand on the keyboard.
How do choirs in New York differ from those in Berlin?
Bernd: When you sing as a layman with retired musical theatre performers who just don’t want to stop singing, you learn an incredible amount. But even in Manhattan, choral singing is so unifying, like at the BOC in Charlottenburg. Looking back, I had to go abroad to learn to appreciate what Germany has created in terms of music history and world culture. My choir director, Cynthia, an extremely inspiring person, proudly told me that she had once been to St Thomas’s Church in Leipzig. She had flown for hours to see where Bach worked. That was an eye-opener: it’s not a given where we live here. She taught me who Paul Hindemith was. He was Hesse, like me. In the choir in Brooklyn, I sang Carmina Burana by Carl Orff from Munich for the first time. After that, I absolutely had to go to Benediktbeuern. After my return in 2019, the choral spark was lit and I wanted to continue and learn.
Can you still remember your first concert with the BOC?
Bernd: It was in 2019 in St Ludwig’s Cathedral. I was sitting in the audience in the gallery and wanted to get to know the Berlin choral scene better. Even then, I noticed that Thomas was sparkling. You realise how much he cares about the music and what resonates with the audience. Charpentier’s Te Deum in December 2023 was the first BOC concert I sang at. Everyone was waiting for the Eurovision anthem and we knew that the audience was about to get goosebumps. The silence at the end of Missa Solemnis in May 2024 was also an experience. After this immense piece faded away, 1,000 people waited until the conductor lowered his baton. That was the climax after a year and a half of work.
Why should anyone interested join the BOC?
Bernd: The BOC gives amateurs the chance to get to know great pieces better and to perform them in venues such as the Philharmonie or the Konzerthaus. This conveys humility towards places and composers. What’s more, you start each rehearsal differently than you end it. Even during the break, you are closer to yourself and talk to others from soul to soul. I find this enriching in everyday life and it shows how music connects – and then in such quality.
