Elbland Festival Wittenberge
The Elblandfestspiele Wittenberge are open-air festivals of the musical genres operetta , musical and film music in Germany. The festival city of Wittenberge is halfway between Berlin and Hamburg in the Prignitz region in the north-west of the state of Brandenburg . The venue is the spacious festival area on the historic industrial setting of Alte Ölmühle zu Wittenberge with the "Elblandbühne" (up to 3500 seats) built in 2007.
The official sponsor is the festival association “Gesellschaft Elblandfestspiele e. V. “, Chairman of the Board of Trustees : Friedrich Wilhelm Prince of Prussia , the Society's President from 2002 to 2019 was the composer and producer Michael Hansen .
history
The "Elbland Festival" was founded and built up in the Elbe city of Wittenberge in 1997 by the initiator and long-time festival director (until 2008), the opera singer and director Heiko Reissig, in cooperation with the then cultural department of the city of Wittenberge Andreas Schön. After an initial search for a location, the spacious factory site of the former “Old Oil Mill Wittenberge”, directly on the Elbe, will be used for the annual festival from 2000. The new “Elblandbühne” (inauguration in 2007) and the fascinating industrial backdrop from the mid-19th century are important foundations for the successful audience response and reception of the musical performances.
In the course of the festival design at that time, the forecourt in front of the former Kulturhaus was renamed Paul-Lincke-Platz in 2002, the Kulturhaus was re-inaugurated as the “Kultur- und Festspielhaus Wittenberge” after its general renovation and a bronze bust of the composer Paul Lincke ( Sculptor Reiner Jacob) as a donation from the BühnenReif eV society.
In 2007 the inauguration of the newly built "Elblandbühne" (architect: Uwe Peetz) took place with a festive act of consecration in the presence of the Prince of Prussia, Minister of the State Government and the District Administrator. The long-time director of the German State Opera Berlin, Hans Pischner , spoke the historic stage inauguration together with the festival director Heiko Reissig.
The following personalities have so far taken over the official patronage of the Elbland Festival:
- Federal President a. D. Walter Scheel ,
- Federal Foreign Minister ret. D. Hans-Dietrich Genscher ,
- Prime Minister Dr. jur. Manfred Stolpe ,
- Prime Minister Matthias Platzeck ,
- Chamber singer Prof. Renate Holm (singing competition),
- Dagmar Koller / Vienna,
- Yvonne Kálmán / Los Angeles,
- Armin Mueller-Stahl ,
- Ivan Rebroff ,
- Dr. Friedrich Wilhelm Prince of Prussia .
There has been close cooperation with Rundfunk Berlin-Brandenburg (rbb) and the German Film Orchestra Babelsberg since the first year of the festival . In addition, the gala evenings are broadcast annually in the third programs of the ARD .
International Singing Competition for Operetta - Paul Lincke
As part of the festival, the "International Singing Competition for Operetta - Paul Lincke" takes place every two years to view and specifically promote young artists in the field of operetta. The winners of the competition are then invited to participate in the Elbland Festival.
