Zug's Choral Night attracted many people

36 Zug choirs offered entertaining glimpses into their repertoire on nine stages in the historic old town of Zug. The opening performance at the Theatre Casino was a staged performance honouring a well-known author.
 

It was dark in the large hall of the Theatre Casino Zug at the start of the performance. The 22 singers of the Xang choir stood in staggered rows on the stage and sang their second song, "Euphorisch depressiv" (Euphoric Depressive). Behind a waist-high soffit, they held flashlights and illuminated their faces from below.

In the third song, "De Sog" (The Sog), they verbalized the setting against which the song takes place – a kind of verbal backdrop, while, for the "Witches' Song (Hexenlied)," they came in meowing and performed the witches' nighttime ride up the Pfannenstiel mountain beneath a hanging broomstick. And in the final song, "Das Postauto," they sat one behind the other on benches, like public transport passengers, adorned with travel accessories, while the person in front held a steering wheel.

These scenic images illustrated a total of seven songs by Thomas Hürlimann – accompanied by a four-piece band with piano, bass, saxophone, and drums under the direction of Lucerne musician, arranger, and composer Stefan "Jimmy" Muff. Partly in dialect, the songs form a garland-like collage. Jimmy Muff's music drew from various genres.

Songs as a prelude to "De Franzos"
This world premiere was a co-production of Theatre Casino Zug and the Zuger Chornacht association – and was also the opening of the 2025/26 season. "We wanted something special as a prelude," said Yvonne Mäder-Schürmann, artistic director of the Zuger Chornacht, in her welcoming address. As the Theatre Casino was celebrating the 75th birthday of Zug author Thomas Hürlimann this year with a new production of his play "De Franzos im Ybrig," the idea arose to set the author's songs to music and have them performed by a Zug choir, explains artistic director Ute Haferburg.

Chorisma sang on the stage at the Landsgemeindeplatz      
The Heimelig Baar yodelling club could also be seen and heard here           
The Bel Canto Choir performed in the Stadtgarten            
The Audite Nova Choir Zug in the Casino Festsaal  
The Zug Kammerchor and AdLibitum performed in the St. Oswald church             
Photos: Alexandra Wey
 

"We launched a survey among choirs that we knew would be interested in embarking on a scenic adventure," explains Yvonne Mäder. The Xang choir quickly agreed, without knowing what to expect. Co-president Philippe Koller describes it this way: "We are known for tackling unusual projects, we want to touch and surprise people, and we considered it a privilege to be able to realise this project."

The personified connection to "Franzos im Ybrig" is its director Christoph Haering, who went to the Bern Literary Archives to search for old Hürlimann songs: "They are poem-like texts; and some were already written as songs or came from the play 'De Franzos'."

Singing rehearsals under Jimmy Muff's direction began in the spring of 2025, and Christoph Haering designed the production while watching. "Because the Xang members aren't professional actors, I couldn't risk overtaxing them. The goal was therefore to embed text and music in scenic images and enhance them with the help of lighting." With a total of 70 changes, the lighting played a key role during the approximately 45-minute performance.

Zug's abundant choral tradition
After this opening, you could plunge into the alleys of the old town and be truly overwhelmed by the diversity of Zug's choral life: in the ballroom (Festsaal) of the Theatre Casino Zug, on wooden stages in Schwanengasse, the Platzwehri, and the Stadtgarten, in the Liebfrauenkapelle, St. Oswald Church, the Burgbachsaal, the Zug Castle Museum, and the Zug Library: "Zug Sings!" And as loud as it could be. From 6 pm onwards, the musical joy floated over the squares and alleys like a carpet of sound. The accompanying culinary offerings contributed to the crowds that soon thronged the streets.

There were the large, ambitious choirs such as Audite Nova, the Zuger Kammerchor, and Cantori Contenti, the choirs of various music and singing schools, and those with linguistic or musical specialties such as the Chor Rumantsch, the English Theatre Show Choir, the Bel Canto Choir, Zug Voices, Gospelchor Bonstetten, and the Linden Singers Neuheim. A wide range of folk music traditions (traditional costume groups and yodelling clubs, Cellolitas), sacred music (Walchwil Church Choir, St. Johannes Choralschola, Camerata St. Michael), and modern secular sounds with a broad spectrum (The Red, Riffi singt!, the Lusigando Choir from Cham, vocal emotions, the Zug Choir, Chorisma, the Kleiner Chor Zug – singing a cappella).

Female and male voices (the Zug-Cham Men's Choirs, the Boys Choir Seniors, Shanty Chor Aegeri, Pepper Voices, Tonique – The Singing Ladies, Vocal Monday) combined to create a full-throated concert. This concert concluded with an open singing session on the Landsgemeindeplatz, starting at 10:40 pm.