Berlin Comedian Harmonists

Berlin Comedian Harmonists
Origin	Berlin, Germany
Genres	musical theatre, operetta, light classical
Years active	1997–present
Website	berlin-comedian-harmonists.de
Members	Holger Off Ralf Steinhagen Olaf Drauschke Philipp Seibert Wolfgang Höltzel Horst Maria Merz
Past members	Marco Woytowicz Günter Barton Rolf Randolph Tilmann F. Rönnebeck

The Berlin Comedian Harmonists are a German vocal ensemble from Berlin, formed in 1997 and committed to recreating the repertoire of the original Comedian Harmonists of the late 1920s and early 1930s.

The group has its origins in the ensemble brought together for the musical play Veronika, der Lenz ist da - Die Comedian Harmonists (Veronica, Spring Has Come - The Comedian Harmonists), which had its premiere on 19 December 1997 at the Komödie am Kurfürstendamm on the Kurfürstendamm in Berlin. This followed the screening of a film, Comedian Harmonists (1997), which like the musical was about a Berlin group, the "Comedian Harmonists", which flourished between 1927 and 1934, when it came to an end due to the rise of the National Socialists to power and their anti-Jewish measures. Most of the group's songs had been written by Jewish composers, and the group also had Jewish members who were prevented from performing. Following the success of the play which brought them together, the singers were several times asked to give gala performances and concerts outside the context of the original production, and a new musical group thus came into being.

The founding members were Olaf Drauschke and Guenter Barton (first and second baritones), Holger Off and Marco Woytowicz (first and second tenors), Tilmann F. Rönnebeck (bass), and Horst Maria Merz (pianist).

After the closing of Veronika, the Berlin Comedian Harmonists soon found themselves singing around Germany and abroad, with appearances in Australia, the United States, Latin America, Spain, Italy, France, and Switzerland.

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