New wind for church music: Karen Priebe takes over the chair!

New wind for church music: Karen Priebe takes over the chair!

On March 30, 2025, Karen Priebe was unanimously elected as the new chairman of the church music in the city and region of Schotten. The support association, founded on November 22, 2004, has set itself the goal of maintaining and expanding the church music offers despite financial bottlenecks. With priebe at the top, one hopes to bring a fresh wind into the club work.

The musical career of Priebe is diverse. She received the piano and bassoon lessons and sang in the University of University in Bochum. In addition, she accompanied instrumentalists for many years at “Jugend musiziert” competitions. Due to a tendon disease, however, she could not study music. Instead, she completed a studies in primary school pedagogy and did a book trade apprenticeship with an additional examination in the musical trade.

club goals and structure

The Förderverein Kirchenmusik in the city and region is actively involved in providing additional funds for classic and modern concerts, sample free times of the choirs, as well as for grades and instruments. In recent years, the number of members has increased exponentially from 30 to 150, including individuals, companies and parishes. The support is through memberships and individual donations.

The board of the association is made up of several committed members: Karen Priebe as chair, Katja Berdan-Repp as deputy, Renate Worf-Rühl as secretary, Andreas Kröher as computer and Jule Brumhard as an assessor. This structure enables efficient planning and implementation of church music projects in the dean's office.

challenges and opportunities

The financing of church music work faces major challenges. The demographic change and church exit have led to falling church tax revenue, which has an impact on budgeting. The current budget of the parish is only sufficient for the running costs, which is why additional funds are urgently needed. Initiatives such as the support association help to close this financing gap and to invest in a targeted manner in your own parish.

The increasing number of visitors to church music events in the Michaeliskirche is particularly gratifying, which shows that interest in music and services is still great. Karen Priebe has set himself the task of gaining younger people in particular for choral music and getting to know the various musical groups in Schotten.

The support associations, such as in Schotten and Kaltenkirchen, offer a valuable opportunity to preserve and develop the cultural legacy of church music. With the increasing number of members and the support from donations, it becomes possible to ensure the musical diversity and the offers in the communities. If you want to support the valuable work, you can do this through membership or a donation. Further information is available on the association's homepage: www.kirchenmusik-kaki.de .