Saxon Mozart Festival is ‘Sensuality and Seduction’. The soloists in residence at the top-quality program featuring works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart are the internationally acclaimed violinist Midori and the piano virtuoso Jos van Immersee. The best participants on this course will take part in the opening concert. The events are also encounters with impressive architecture, including castles, stately homes, theaters and opera houses.
Before World War II, Saxony was the most important economic region in Germany. Dresden was the richest city, Leipzig the most important center of trade and Chemnitz the most significant industrial location. The most famous factory-owner’s villa in Chemnitz is Villa Esche, planned by the Belgian art nouveau artist Henry van de Velde as a work of art for the industrialist Herbert Esche. After extensive renovation, the villa is today a stage for national and international art, culture and learning. Villa Esche is also connected with the ancient wedding custom of the ‘bridal soup’. This ceremony, probably founded by the Chemnitz Bridal Soup Society in the mid-16th century and last celebrated in 1921 by Dr Alfred Eugen Esche in Villa Esche, is today being revived in the historical rooms in Park Street.
With more than 800 performances and concerts, as well as almost 30 new productions each season, Chemnitz Theater is one of the most outstanding vehicles of culture in Saxony. The program ranges from musicals to ballet, from classical and modern drama to top-class and internationally acclaimed performances of Richard Wagner operas. All of the great Wagner operas are in the Chemnitz repertoire. It is not without reason that Chemnitz has been given the title ‘Saxon Bayreuth’.
The Chemnitz Cultural Festival ‘Encounters’ (‘begegnungen’) has been part of the cultural program of the city for 20 years. The secret of its success lies in the meetings of regional and international art in the areas of music, theater and dance, which take place in interesting locations and have an annual theme. Premieres and performances by such national and international stars as Ryuichi Sakamoto, Goran Bregovich, Hanna Schygulla, Mike Stern, Bill Evans, Dominique Horwitz, Corinna Harfouch, Ulrich Mühe, Jeff Berlin and Randy Brecker add to the fascination.
Fans have long known that gleaming historical car bodies and the eternally young Dixieland music unite every June for the AUDIX. Supplemented by Saxon specialties to eat and drink, the festival is a symbol of Saxon joie-de-vivre and art appreciation. And all that in the historical walls of the former hunting lodge of the rulers of Saxony, built in the Renaissance style. With 170 exhibits, the collection of two-wheelers is one of the most outstanding in Europe. After all, the one-time world leader DKW produced its motorcycles in nearby Zschopau, which is where the MZ brand is still made. The panorama view towards the Ore Mountains always makes a visit to Augustusburg Castle worthwhile.
Every August over 25,000 fans come to Rabenstein Lake in Chemnitz to celebrate and dance with about 300 artists at Splash!, the biggest hip hop and reggae festival in Europe, which in 2007 marks its tenth anniversary. The rhythms of the most popular bands of the music scene are accompanied by skateboard, breakdance and graffiti competitions to delight the international audience.
