Joining Hamburg's Landesjugendorchester or a JMS Choir: Auditions, Ages, and Real Costs

Two Doors Into Hamburg’s Youth Music Scene, and a Third You Might Not Expect

A newcomer family that’s heard Hamburg has “a youth orchestra and a children’s choir” and expects both to work like a single audition you show up to once is in for two surprises. The orchestra side really does come down to one flagship ensemble and one Probespiel. The choir side is the opposite: what gets casually called “Hamburg’s Kinderchor” is actually three separate, unrelated organizations, split by sex and by how much of an on-ramp they offer before any audition happens at all.

Landesjugendorchester Hamburg: Germany’s Only Self-Governed State Youth Orchestra

The Landesjugendorchester Hamburg started life in 1968 as the Hamburger Jugendorchester (HJO), founded after Herbert Bruhn and Matthias Rieger persuaded Hamburg’s youth authorities to back a genuinely different model: earlier attempts at a citywide youth orchestra had stalled because leadership lacked the pedagogical skill to actually involve its own members. That founding idea, that the musicians themselves should help run the orchestra rather than just show up and play, has stuck for more than half a century. It took the name Landesjugendorchester Hamburg in 2005, a change the orchestra itself frames as underlining its role as Hamburg’s Auswahlorchester (selection orchestra), and it now operates under the umbrella of the Landesmusikrat Hamburg e.V.

What sets it apart from most comparable ensembles, including Munich’s ATTACCA and ODEON or Berlin’s LJO, is that it describes itself as Germany’s only fully self-managed (“basisdemokratisch”) state youth orchestra. Roughly 80 musicians aged 14 to 25 don’t just play together, they elect their own board, current holders include Jakob Bode as chair and Louise Witzel as concertmaster, plus members handling administration, publicity, and programming, and they collectively shape which repertoire the orchestra tackles each phase. Ludger Vollmer, the orchestra’s president, has described this structure in explicitly Kantian terms: independent thinking, basic democratic experience, and character formation, where each member’s artistic voice carries equal weight rather than deferring to a single hierarchical conductor. Rather than one permanent principal conductor, the orchestra invites different conductors for different work phases; Johannes Witt has served as artistic director since 2020, and since autumn 2023 the orchestra has run a mentorship partnership with the Philharmonisches Staatsorchester Hamburg, giving members contact with professional players from one of the city’s resident orchestras.

One especially concrete piece of proof that the self-governance model produces real musicians, not just a nice organizational story: Wagner tenor Klaus Florian Vogt, one of the most recognized voices at Bayreuth and on major opera stages worldwide, played horn in the Landesjugendorchester Hamburg as a teenager. Reflecting on that period, he said he remains “infinitely grateful for the experiences and still-lasting friendships from that wonderful time,” and pointed to the broader significance of an institution like this for young people that goes well beyond the music itself.

Photo by cottonbro studio on Pexels

How the Probespiel Actually Works

Joining isn’t a single form and a yes or no answer. It runs in three concrete steps. First, you fill out the orchestra’s own online application form on ljo-hamburg.de; submitting it counts as your official application, and you get a confirmation by email. Second, you’re invited by email to a Probespiel, the audition itself. Third, if that goes well, your child starts in the orchestra’s next work phase.

The audition itself is compact: roughly 20 minutes in front of the panel, with about 30 minutes beforehand set aside for a candidate to warm up alone before going in. That panel typically runs 5 to 6 people, commonly the conductor or concertmaster, section leaders relevant to the candidate’s instrument, and the orchestra’s own personnel manager (Orchestervorstand). What you actually play breaks into three parts: excerpts specific to your instrument, sent to you two weeks before the audition date, so there’s real preparation time rather than a surprise repertoire list on the day; one fast and one slow piece chosen from your own existing repertoire; and one or two further pieces read at sight. Candidates decide the order they perform these in themselves, and because the whole slot only runs about 20 minutes, the jury may stop a piece partway through rather than hearing it end to end, a time-management reality rather than an early verdict on how it’s going. Questions about the process, or about what to prepare, go to probespiel@ljo-hamburg.de, staffed by two orchestra members (Marit and Jakob) rather than an outside administrator.

What a Work Phase Actually Looks Like, and What It Costs

The orchestra doesn’t rehearse in a single continuous block across the year. It runs at least two work phases annually, one running roughly from September into November and a second stretching from late January through into early summer, and the rehearsal pattern alternates between two distinct formats. A “standard” work phase means weekly Monday evening rehearsals, 18:00 to 21:30, held outside Hamburg’s school holiday weeks, supplemented by occasional weekend sessions. A “block” work phase compresses things instead: concentrated rehearsal days, sometimes tied to a trip away from Hamburg, immediately followed by a concert, rather than rehearsals spread thin across many weeks. Concerts are most often staged at the Laeiszhalle, Hamburg’s historic concert hall, and the orchestra’s history includes touring beyond its regular home concerts as well.

On cost, there’s a genuine gap in what’s published: nowhere on the orchestra’s own pages does a membership fee appear, in sharp contrast to Berlin’s Landesjugendorchester, whose own materials state 300 EUR per work phase up front. That doesn’t guarantee Hamburg’s version is free of any cost to a family, instrument upkeep, transport to weekly Monday rehearsals, and any expenses tied to a residential or touring block phase aren’t addressed on the public pages either, so this is squarely a question to ask directly once your child gets to the audition stage. A dedicated support association, the Förderer des Landesjugendorchesters Hamburg e.V., was set up in 2019 specifically to help fund and organize the orchestra’s activities, which suggests real costs exist behind the scenes even where an individual membership price isn’t advertised.

The Voice Side: Three Separate Choirs, Not One “Kinderchor Hamburg”

Search for “children’s choir Hamburg” and you’ll eventually land on a JMS course page literally titled “Kinderchor Hamburg.” Don’t assume that’s the whole story: it’s actually the entry point for a specific mixed-age, no-audition ensemble, while two other, much more structured choir programs exist entirely separately, one for girls and one for boys, each running their own multi-tier pipeline up to an audition-gated senior level.

Mädchenchor Hamburg (Girls Only)

Mädchenchor Hamburg runs four levels, and only the top two require an audition. The Vorchor takes girls from age 4, and the Kinderchor continues from age 7, both explicitly stated to need no special prerequisites beyond, in the choir’s own words, enjoying singing and music. From there, the Jugendchor opens at age 10, but admission runs through a Vorsingen (audition), and the Konzertchor, from age 14, is reserved for girls who already bring real choir experience and commitment, entered through a formal entrance assessment rather than a casual sign-up. All levels rehearse once or twice a week at the JMS’s central location, Mittelweg 42 (the Michael-Otto-Haus in Rotherbaum), and every level includes vocal training as part of the regular sessions, not as a separate add-on.

Neuer Knabenchor Hamburg (Boys Only)

The boys’ equivalent runs a similar shape with its own separate timeline. Three Vorchor tiers, sorted by age, start from just under 4 years old, training the youngest singers in basic musicianship and vocal fundamentals with no prior experience expected. The most promising younger singers move up into the Hauptchor (main choir) from age 9, but getting there isn’t automatic: a new candidate first sits through 1 to 2 Kennlernproben (trial rehearsals) to get a feel for the group, then a Vorsingen decides actual admission. New singers are typically invited into the Vorchor twice a year, once in spring and once in autumn, so timing an approach around one of those two windows matters more here than it does for the girls’ choir’s rolling entry at the younger levels. Rehearsal days split by group too: the Vorchöre meet Wednesday and Thursday afternoons into early evening, while the Hauptchor rehearses Tuesdays and Fridays, with specific time slots assigned by voice part.

”We are family!”: The No-Audition Alternative for Any Age

For a family that wants to skip auditions and single-sex tracks entirely, JMS runs a third choir under its general “Kinderchor Hamburg” course listing, branded “We are family!” in its own materials. It takes all age groups, currently with particular interest in younger singers, no audition, and no formal prerequisite beyond enjoying singing in a group; prior choir experience helps but isn’t required. Its repertoire leans toward pop and accessible choral pieces sung in both German and English, a genuinely different musical identity from the other two choirs’ more classical, developmental structure. Rehearsals run Monday evenings, 18:00 to 19:30, in the Michael-Otto-Haus, and it’s currently open to all voice parts, soprano, alto, tenor, and bass alike, regardless of age or sex.

What Choir Membership Actually Costs

JMS’s published 2025/26 fee schedule prices choir participation on its own separate scale from individual instrument lessons: 303.60 EUR/year for up to 120 minutes of rehearsal a week, rising to 348 EUR/year for 121 to 260 minutes, explicitly listed for “Mädchen-, Knabenchor” in the school’s own fee table. The same two discount mechanisms that apply across the rest of JMS apply here too: a third course for a family (whether a sibling’s own course or a second activity for the same child) gets a 25% reduction, a fourth gets 40% off, and families facing genuine financial hardship can apply for a reduction all the way down to a stated 12 EUR/year minimum fee. The published fee table doesn’t separately break out a rate for the mixed “We are family!” choir, so confirm the applicable fee directly with the Stadtbereich Mitte office when you register rather than assuming it matches the Mädchenchor/Knabenchor figure exactly.

Step by Step: Auditioning for the Landesjugendorchester Hamburg

1. Confirm your child’s instrument and level fit first. Ages 14 to 25, a standard orchestral instrument, and advanced-level playing are the baseline; some prior orchestral experience helps but isn’t stated as an absolute requirement.
2. Submit the online application form on ljo-hamburg.de. This is what officially starts the process; you’ll get a confirmation email once it’s received.
3. Wait for the audition invitation by email, then prepare using the instrument-specific excerpts sent about two weeks before the Probespiel date, alongside a fast and a slow piece from your own repertoire.
4. Attend the roughly 20-minute Probespiel, arriving early enough to use the roughly 30 minutes of warm-up time beforehand, and expect a panel of 5 to 6 people plus sight-reading on the day.
5. Ask directly about cost and the next work phase’s schedule once your child is invited to audition, since neither a fee nor exact upcoming dates are published on the orchestra’s own pages.

Step by Step: Getting a Child Into a JMS Choir

1. Decide which of the three tracks actually fits, your child’s sex (for Mädchenchor or Knabenchor) or a no-audition mixed option (“We are family!”) if you’d rather skip that structure entirely.
2. For Mädchenchor Hamburg or Neuer Knabenchor Hamburg at the youngest Vorchor levels, contact JMS directly, no audition is needed at this stage, only interest and a willingness to attend.
3. For an older child aiming straight for an audition-gated level (Jugendchor at 10, Konzertchor at 14, or Knabenchor’s Hauptchor at 9), ask specifically about the next Vorsingen date, and for boys, keep in mind new Hauptchor singers are typically taken in only twice a year, spring and autumn.
4. Register through the Stadtbereich Mitte office, either by email or through JMS’s own digital Vormerkliste on serviceportal.hamburg.de, since none of these three choirs use a separate citywide portal.
5. Ask about the specific choir fee (303.60-348 EUR/year) and the sibling/income-based discounts at registration, rather than assuming the same figures published for individual instrument lessons apply here.

Compliance Note

This page reflects publicly available information from the Landesjugendorchester Hamburg’s own website (ljo-hamburg.de), the Landesmusikrat Hamburg e.V.’s project pages, German Wikipedia, nmz’s coverage of the orchestra’s 55th anniversary, and hamburg.de’s official pages for the Staatliche Jugendmusikschule Hamburg’s Mädchenchor, Neuer Knabenchor, “Kinderchor Hamburg” (“We are family!”), and fee schedule, current as of mid-2026. Audition dates, work-phase schedules, choir rehearsal times, and fees are set independently by each organization and can change from year to year; confirm current details directly with the Landesjugendorchester Hamburg, the Landesmusikrat Hamburg e.V., or your Stadtbereich office before applying or registering.