Classic open air
The Klassik Open Air in Nuremberg is the largest open-air event with classical music on the European continent. According to estimates by the organizers, a total of over 160,000 visitors come to two concerts in late July and early August with free admission. In addition to the Bardentreffen , it is the second major music event in the city's public space.
The double concerts of the annual open air are organized jointly by the Nuremberg Symphony Orchestra and the Nuremberg State Philharmonic . The organizer is the culture department of the city of Nuremberg. They offer a mixture of demanding and popular pieces through to classic arrangements of film music .
The Klassik Open Air began in 2000 on the occasion of the city's 950th anniversary with three free open-air concerts by the city's two large orchestras in Luitpoldhain in the southern city center. Henriette Schmidt-Burkhardt, who died in 2014, was one of the initiators of the festival . Similar concerts by the New York Symphony Orchestra in Central Park and above all the Proms in the Park in London's Hyde Park were used as models . As there, the viewers in Nuremberg are invited to make themselves comfortable on the lawn in front of the stage with blankets and folding chairs that they have brought with them. In the meantime this has developed into a real picnic culture by candlelight in the evenings and sparkler burning at the end. One advantage of the area in Luitpoldhain are the rising areas at the rear end of the spectator area, which offer a good overview and are particularly popular.
Due to the great success in the anniversary year, a repeat of the concert was planned as early as 2001. Initially, it was seen critical that the Luitpoldhain an infamous Nazi past as a place of consecration of the flag of the NSDAP has what in particular in connection with the performance of particularly valued by Nazi superiors music of Richard Wagner bad memories aroused.
After some difficulties, especially with the financial security of the event, the Klassik Open Air was able to establish itself in the following years. Four major sponsors from Nuremberg support the concerts, plus there is income from the sale of a symbolic badge in the form of a flying songbird and from food and drinks on the sidelines of the event. This covers around 60% of the costs, with the city's cultural budget contributing another 40%. Since 2003 the Symphony Orchestra and Philharmonic Orchestra have been playing two separate concerts with different soloists on two weekends 14 days apart in July and August each year. Since 2005 an artistically designed fireworks display with music has been part of the event.
Musically, the concerts are based on the size and composition of the audience. Many well-known, popular classical melodies are part of the repertoire, for example Ravel's Bolero and Chatschaturjan's Saber Dance have already been on the program several times. There is also an introduction to works that are more familiar to classical music lovers. In the second part of the concerts that start at 8 p.m., the entertainment part was emphasized, for example film music from Star Wars and The Magnificent Seven was performed. With Rule, Britannia! (2003) and Land of Hope and Glory (2005) as the last pieces of the evening were borrowed twice directly from the British Proms , where these two pieces are part of the standard repertoire and the audience singing with the orchestra and waving sparklers forms the atmospheric end of the Proms season with the “Last Night”.
In 2002 the successful concept of classical open-air concerts was awarded the Nuremberg Region Prize.
The Klassik Open Air, scheduled for July 24, 2016, was overshadowed by the events surrounding the attack in Munich in 2016 and was therefore canceled.
Web links
Individual evidence
- ^ Office for Culture and Leisure of the City of Nuremberg ( Memento from February 14, 2009 in the Internet Archive )
- ↑ Press report, VA July 24, 2016 canceled