Sonat Vox: UBI CARITAS ET AMOR DEUS IBI EST

After years of intensive vocal training, the a cappella ensemble Sonat Vox sought to express their shared passion and devotion to music from all epochs with the album "UBI CARITAS ET AMOR DEUS IBI EST." The CD was produced in collaboration with the Lazarus Order. 

The vocal ensemble Sonat Vox agreed to support the charitable activities of the Order by not only performing benefit concerts in Berlin, Erfurt, Munich, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, and other locations but also by making themselves available for this CD production at the Heilsbronn Monastery – the headquarters of the German clerical order.

Sonat Vox is an a cappella ensemble founded in the spring of 2015, consisting of young adults aged 18 to 23. The lineup of Sonat Vox, with tenors, basses, and altus voices (for high registers), is unique in Germany and produces a distinctive variety of voices and depth of sound. Years of training and countless joint concert performances since early youth provide the basis for a rarely achieved homogeneity. Sonat Vox is under the direction of Justus Merkel, who is currently studying choral conducting at the Carl Maria von Weber University of Music in Dresden with Prof. Hans-Christoph Rademann.

Justus Merkel was born in Ansbach in 1996. He received his fundamental musical education from 2005 onwards with the renowned Windsbacher Knabenchor under the direction of Karl-Friedrich Beringer. During this time, he participated in approximately 750 concerts both domestically and internationally. As a tenor soloist, Justus Merkel performed in the world premiere of "Sonat Vox Laetitia" by Lehmann-Horn and the first recording of the sacred works of Johann Staden.

After graduating from high school in 2014, he worked as part of a voluntary social year to support daily rehearsal work and voice training alongside choir director Martin Lehmann, who took over the Windsbacher Knabenchor in 2011. In the spring of 2015, he founded the vocal ensemble "Sonat Vox" with choristers of the same age, which he has since musically directed.
For more information, visit: www.sonat-vox.de