46-year-old Reize doesn’t have any previous connection with Leipzig, but he’s a widely respected authority on church music. The choir’s main function is to sing at St Thomas’ Church, Leipzig. Andreas Reize has excellent qualifications and experience for the job. He himself was a boy chorister in Switzerland and at an early age decided that he wanted to be a musical director. He studied church music and took charge of the boys’ choir at Solothurn Cathedral in the diocese of Basel. He also made a name for himself as an opera conductor, placing strong emphasis on faithfulness to the score and its historical sound. That stands him in good stead for his new appointment. However the greatest innovation is that for the first time since the Reformation a Catholic is conducting the choir in this famous German Lutheran church. In this report by Alex Rowohlt we sit in on the new conductor’s first rehearsals and performances. We also take a look behind the scenes — at the life of the boy choristers.