Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Max Reger mark the beginning and end of a musical era in which there was growing awareness among a broader public of the works of Johann Sebastian Bach, which these two musicians in particular did much to propagate. Mendelssohn, the 200th anniversary of whose birth we shall be celebrating in 2009, was familiar with Bach’s compositions from his childhood, and these perceptibly infl uenced his early works especially. Together with other well-known personalities, he initiated and pioneered the first complete collection of Bach’s works, the Bach- Gesamtausgabe. Around half a century later, Reger applied himself to the works of the cantor of St. Thomas’, Leipzig (to an extent unmatched by scarcely any other musician of his generation), not just as a composer, but also as an arranger and publisher. From 1907, Reger was the music director of Leipzig University. We will be using the occasion of its 600th anniversary in 2009 not only to turn our attention to niversity music at the time of Bach, but also to pay homage to the work of that late Romantic composer for whom the cantor of St. Thomas’ represented »the beginning and end of all music«
With its 800-year-old history, St Thomas Boys Choir is the oldest cultural institution in Leipzig. Famous choirmasters such as Johann Sebastian Bach helped to make the choir world-famous. The heart of its work is the sacred music in the weekly services, motets and cantatas. Oratorios by Bach can also be enjoyed regularly. The Thomaner boys can be heard regularly at 6 pm on Fridays and 3 pm on Saturdays in St Thomas’ Church, if they are not on tour to famous venues all over the world.
Concerts in the Summer Hall of the Leipzig Bach Museum
The gold and silver merchant Georg Heinrich Bose was not only a friend of Bach’s but also godfather to five of his children. The rooms of Bose’s Baroque merchant’s house opposite St Thomas’ Church now house the Leipzig Bach Museum. The series of concerts in the faithfully restored Summer Hall are dedicated to the music of the 17th and 18th centuries. Established ensembles and young artists play historical instruments and give the music a certain authenticity.
The Gohlis People’s Concerts every last Sunday in the month are held in one of the gems of the cultural history of Saxony, Gohlis Castle in Leipzig, which was built as the rococo country residence of a rich merchant. Among the 200 artists that have taken part in this series of concerts are well-known Leipzig chamber music groups from the Gewandhaus Orchestra and the MDR Radio Orchestra, selected soloists and young independent ensembles.
Leipzig’s Opera House was opened in 1960 with Richard Wagner’s ‘Meistersinger’ and still exudes the unaffected charm of the post-war years. The creative curiosity of the artists working in it, among them General Music Director Riccardo Chailly, has brought great fame to the house.
The world-famous Gewandhaus Orchestra is the oldest civic orchestra in the world and is today housed in the Gewandhaus Concert Hall, opened in 1981 under Kurt Masur. Famous compositions by great composers such as Mozart, Brahms, Mendelssohn and Schubert have been premiered by the Leipzig ensemble.
Felix Mendelssohn is one of the most famous musicians to have lived and worked in Leipzig. Since 1997 the Mendelssohn Festival has been in held in his honor by the Gewandhaus Concert Hall, the Mendelssohn House, the Schumann House, the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy College of Music and Theater, the Bach Archive, the Museum of Music Instruments and St Thomas’ Church.
The year 2009 marks the 200th anniversary of Mendelssohn's birth - good cause for an even more festive and extensive celebration
The Mendelssohn House is the only museum in the world to honor the composer and director of the Gewandhaus Orchestra, Felix Mendelssohn. Every Sunday classical and romantic works are performed in the music salon of the Mendelssohn family. In August the Mendelssohn House is host to the Leipzig Summer Piano Festival, featuring internationally acclaimed pianists.
The Great Hall of St Nicholas’ School, Leipzig, where Richard Wagner was a conspicuously bad scholar, is now the home of LeipJAZZig. The concerts of the three-day festival always have a special theme, such as ‘World Music meets Jazz from Leipzig’, ‘Music and the Visual’, or ‘Music and Words’. But unorthodox musical forms and ensembles under the theme of ‘Side views’ also captivate the audience. And there are always the musicians from other countries as guests in Leipzig.
During the computer games fair Games Convention, Leipzig shows its night life from its most exciting side: the Honky Tonk® Music Festival, the biggest pub festival in Europe, features various types of live music in the most fashionable venues in Leipzig’s lively city center.
For four days a year, Leipzig is in the hands of the neo-romantics, who have their most important meeting here. International artists create the biggest black mass in the world, the Celebrant medieval market, as well as readings, role-plays, theater performances, thematic film series, open-air spectacles, music, fire and light performances, exhibitions, fashion shows, dance theater, variety entertainment, the Heathen Village, fetish events, esoteric and after-show parties with internationally-renowned DJs from the in-scene at unusual locations.
Leipzig Jazz Festival is one of the most important jazz festivals in the world. Thus, the musical city of Leipzig is today not only linked to classical music, but also to jazz. The program offers contemporary jazz in all its varieties. And the unusual venues make the festival a very popular event in Leipzig.
