1900 - 1952
The young Georg Schumann (25 Oktober 1866 - 23 May 1952), an outsider this time, from a family of musicians from Saxony, changed direction and, in the half century of his directorship (1900 - 1952) caught up with and connected the choir to modernism. He performed works by César Franck, Giuseppe Verdi, Franz Liszt, Anton Bruckner, Max Reger, and younger composers.
At this time, the choir started to attract attention beyond Berlin, travelling to Italy in 1913, 1927, and 1939, in 1926 and 1930 to Eastern Europe, and in 1935 to Scandinavia, and together with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra (they often performed together) the choir became the most renowned musical ambassador of Berlin abroad. Between 1933 to 1945, Georg Schumann managed to save the Sing-Akademie from being completely controled by the propaganda ministry by attaching it to the Prussian Academy of Arts, wile maintaining its judicial independence. This also ensured its survival after the war under the allied occupation.