The reconstruction of the Church of Our Lady was financed by donations from all over the world. Since it reopened in 2005, the Baroque masterpiece of architect George Bähr has continued great musical traditions. The Saturday concerts and the ‘Sacred Sunday Music’ series feature internationally renowned artists. On alternating Wednesdays, the organs of the Church of Our Lady, Dresden Cathedral and the Church of the Holy Cross can be heard. On the occasion of the 300th anniversary of the death of Dietrich Buxtehude, 2007 features a cycle dedicated to the composer. And the performance of Anne-Sophie Mutter at Dresden Music Festival promises to be a special highlight.
Holy Cross Boys Choir and Church of the Holy Cross
In 2006 Dresden celebrated its 800th anniversary as a city. The Holy Cross Boys Choir is almost as old and has made a great contribution to shaping the musical tradition of Dresden. Despite touring the whole world, the famous boys’ choir can often be heard in its home, the Church of the Holy Cross, at the weekend. The boys perform there a total of sixty times a year, in church services or concerts. In addition, there are over 20 Holy Cross Boys Choir vespers on Saturdays, which take place at 5 pm in the winter and 6 pm in the summer.
The maestro concerts are an insider tip for the connoisseur of more demanding chamber music. Albrechtsberg Castle, one of Dresden’s most beautiful late classicist buildings, was inspired by the famous Villa Medici and was built for a Prussian prince. And it is here that since 1993, world-famous soloists, top ensembles and young up-and-coming artists have played. The venue is the magnificent Crown Room.
From May to September the artists of the Landesbühnen Sachsen Theater perform in the Dresden Zwinger, the perfect synthesis of architecture and sculpture of the Baroque period. The highlights are the ‘Light Summer Concerts’ and the ‘Dance Serenades’. The Nymphs Fountain, between the Wall Pavilion and the Picture Gallery, is the setting for love, cunning and passion with the performance of Franz von Suppé’s ‘Beautiful Galatea’. The series of over 100 events in the Zwinger ends as usual with ‘Carmina Burana’ by Carl Orff.
In Dresden’s opera house built by Gottfried Semper the 2006–2007 season again promises to be busy. Three new productions are featured: Giuseppe Verdi’s ‘Othello’ on 14 October 2006, Benjamin Britten’s ‘Peter Grimes’ on 9 February 2007 and Hector Berlioz’s ‘Damnation of Faust’ on 15 April 2007. The Saxon State Opera again plays twelve symphony concerts. In addition, there are lieder evenings, chamber music and performances in the studio theater ‘semper kleine szene’. Fans of the ballet can look forward to the newly created Semper Opera House Ballet. The Dresden Festival annually honors Richard Strauss, who for 60 years was closely connected to the Semper Opera House. Ten of his works can be heard on ten days between 13 and 22 March 2007, an experience without parallel anywhere else in the world.
The 2007 motto of the best-visited classical music festival in Germany is ‘Landscapes’, which pays homage to the recently awarded title of UNESCO world heritage site for the Dresden Elbe Valley. The variety of the landscape is mirrored by the music on the program. Music from Finland, England and Austria shows the differing musical landscapes of these countries. But landscapes of the soul, set to music, will also dominate the festival. Six series form the basic structure of the program, alongside the annually changing theme. In 2007 they are ‘Dresden & Europe – Helsinki’, ‘Music of the 20th and 21st centuries’, ‘Dresden – music & history’, ‘Journeys to music’, ‘Music and other arts’ and ‘Dresden sings and makes music’.
In the 2006–2007 season, the Dresden Philharmonic is daring something unusual: in a co-production with the Junge Generation Dresden puppet theater, ‘Master Peter's Puppet Show’ by Manuel de Falla is being performed with life-size puppets. The theme of the cycle concerts is ‘Myths and Fairy-tales’, with works by such composers as Tchaikovsky, Brahms, Skriabin and Grieg. The orchestra also has its own series of concerts in the Church of Our Lady, featuring music by Mozart, Beethoven und Bartók. A highlight will be Alfred Schnittke’s unfinished 9th Symphony, reconstructed and completed with a final movement by Alexander Raskatov.
For 20 years, the Dresden Festival of Contemporary Music has been one of the leading international festivals of modern music. The audiences experience the whole spectrum of contemporary music: symphonies and music theater, experimental dance, chamber music and electronic music, jazz and multimedia performance. A characteristic of this festival is the charming contrast between on the one hand traditional venues like the Semper Opera House, the Church of the Holy Cross and the Hellerau Festival Hall and on the other unusual venues such as galleries and studios.
The Elbe Riverbank Festival, a four-mile street festival located on the hillside along the Elbe River, started in 1990–91 from benefit events for Loschwitz Church, built by George Bähr (who also built the Church of Our Lady) and Pillnitz Vineyard Church, built by Matthäus Daniel Pöppelmann (who also built the Zwinger). The old wine villages on the slopes above the Elbe between Loschwitz and Pillnitz form one of the most captivating cultural landscapes in the city of Dresden and provide beautiful settings for a festival. Opening with a big parade, the annual festival features 200 concerts, theater performances and dance events, readings and markets located on village squares, in parks and villas, and on the Elbe riverbank and on the hillside. Tours and talks explain the history and tell stories about the area, while the actions of young contemporary artists fascinate the visitors.
The Hellerau Festival Hall in Dresden was built by Heinrich Tessenow in 1910–12 and after years of being used by the military, was re-opened in 2006. With the European Center for the Arts, it is once again a location of the modern. It is here that people meet who see the artistic answer to today’s world in the fusion of different media, and who seek modern venues alongside the traditional. Hellerau hosts the Dresden Festival of Contemporary Music, the CYNETart festival of computer art, the avant-garde Body Theater of the Compagnie DEREVO from St Petersburg and Dresden and the modern dance of the famous choreographer William Forsythe.
In 2007, hundreds of thousands of fans will be enjoying the hot rhythms of about 200 jazz musicians in about 30 bands from more than ten countries, as they have been doing every May for the last 36 years. The Riverboat-Shuffle with the oldest and biggest paddle-steamer fleet in the world, the Jazz Mile on Prager Street, the four-hour open-air concert in the Great Garden and the final parade of the bands through Dresden’s historical center are among the highlights of this internationally acclaimed jazz festival.
Before the Berlin Wall came down, plans existed to demolish the whole of Dresden’s Outer New Town with its 19th-century architecture, but fortunately funds were too limited. The area has now been fully renovated and is the trendy area of the city. Every year the Festival ‘Bunte Republik Neustadt’ (‘Colorful Republic of New Town’), a weekend for the whole family featuring all kinds of music, is held here with great imagination and attention to detail. Venues include cellars, garages, apartments, clubs and bars.
Dresden State Operetta is one of the few theaters in European specializing in comic opera. Presently located in the outlying district of Leuben, it will soon move to an ultra-modern venue in the city center of Dresden. The theater’s nurture of Johann Strauss is unique: alongside ‘Vienna Blood’, the 2006–2007 season features less well-known works by the Viennese ‘Waltz King’: ‘Carnival in Rome’ and, from April 2007, ‘The Queen’s Lace Handkerchief’. These will be accompanied by such classics as ‘The Beggar Student’, ‘The Gipsy Princess’ and ‘The Merry Wives of Windsor’, the swing musical ‘Anything Goes’ and the rock opera ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’.
Dates:
New production: 26–27 January 2007
Bluebeard – The Zwinger Trio investigate
New production: 27–28 April 2007
The Queen’s Lace Handkerchief
2–6 May 2007
3rd Dresden Operetta Festival
New production: 15–16 June 2007
Candide
New production: 7–8 September 2007
Boccaccio
New production: 9–10 November 2007
Tickets:
+49(0)351 20799-27 or -29
info@staatsoperette-dresden.de
www.staatsoperette-dresden.de
Carte Blanche
The extravagant travesty theater in the Outer New Town district of Dresden is located immediately behind ‘Pfunds Molkerei’, which, according to the Guinness Book of Records, is the most beautiful milk shop in the world. The theater captivates its audiences with glamorous revues in the style of Lido and Moulin Rouge, featuring lively scenes from well-known musicals, live singing parodies and top-class comedy. Every month a new star guest is presented. In the stylish setting, the feast for the ears and eyes is followed by international delights for the taste-buds.
