Hamburger Lotsenchor

The “Hamburger Lotsenchor” (Hamburg Pilots Choir), established 1996, consists only of former Master Mariners, of whom many are still working as pilots in the port of Hamburg or on the river Elbe and who are daily in contact with large sea going vessels.

The approximately 25 choir members are between 45 and 85 years old (they are directed by Michael Georgi, with Natalia Böttcher on the accordion, Maria Pallasch on the flute and Jutta Hoppe on the violin) and are endeavouring to present the work and leisure songs of the old sailing ships of the 19th century as realistically as possible. The songs have little to do with romantic music and less with ditties sung at Harbour Concerts, posing as Shanties.

The life of the seafarers, which brought forth these shanties, was hard, short and deprived. A romantic touch was out of the question. This, our choir aims to be true to. The choir is not interested in a glamour show, and time will tell if they will ever attempt to go this way. It is not only older people which are repeatedly thrilled by our performances though.

Shanties are mostly written in English due to the English and American sailing fleets at the time being up to 7 times the size of the German fleet! Many German and Scandinavian seafarers were sailing on ships where English was the main language. The very few true (low) German shanties are, never the less, some of the best in the genre.

We are singing, because we enjoy singing. We have repeatedly performed with great success in England, Norway, Russia and the Netherlands. Our performances in Germany have taken us to the Laeiszhalle (Hamburg Philharmonic Concert Hall), to festivals along the coast as well as inland, into museums, cathedrals and churches of different denominations.

We have produced seven CDs so far, which you can listen in to and order via “Unsere CDs” and “Kontakt” pages on this homepage.

Der Hamburger Lotsenchor unter der Leitung von Michael Georgi ist ein außergewöhnlicher Chor, der authentische Seemannslieder mit Nathalie Böttcher am Akkordeon, Jutta Hoppe an der Violine und Maria Pallasch an der Flöte interpretiert. Praxis und Theorie verschmelzen im Chor nahtlos und schaffen ein freudiges und inspirierendes Erlebnis. Ihre Lieder sind großartig, ungewöhnlich und fantasievoll und verbinden gekonnte Improvisation mit emotionalem Ausdruck. Der Chor möchte das Publikum dazu anregen, darüber nachzudenken, wie Seemannslieder auf sie wirken und welche Themen sie behandeln.

Der 1996 gegründete „Hamburger Lotsenchor“ besteht fast ausschließlich aus ehemaligen Kapitänen der Langstreckenschifffahrt, von denen einige noch immer als Lotsen im Hamburger Hafen oder auf der Elbe tätig sind und täglich mit der Großschifffahrt in Kontakt stehen.

Die 23 aktiven Chormitglieder sind zwischen 45 und 90 Jahre alt und treten – unter der Leitung unseres Chorleiters Michael Georgi – (Akkordeon: Natalia Böttcher – Flöte: Maria Pallasch – Violine: Jutta Hoppe) so oft wie möglich als vollständiger Chor auf und präsentieren authentische Interpretationen von Arbeits- und Freizeitliedern aus der Zeit der Segelschiffe des 19. Jahrhunderts.