Saar Music Festival

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"Industrial Cathedral " St. Ingbert venue (former mechanical workshop of the "Alte Schmelz" )

The Saar Music Festival is a biennial of classical music , which since 1989 in Saarland and beyond in the region Saar-Lor-Lux takes place. The founder of the festival , Prof. Robert Leonardy , relied on internationally known performers, some of them at unusual performance locations such as former industrial halls. In addition, Saarland institutions such as the Saarland State Theater , museums and restaurants offer a supporting program.

The festival

While the music festival initially focused on the work of a single composer, since 1995 they have been dedicated to a country or region. The Saar Music Festival is supported by a non-profit Festspiel GmbH of the same name. Its shareholders were Robert Leonardy himself, the Saarländischer Rundfunk and Saarland , represented by the incumbent minister of education. In October 2015, the Saarländischer Rundfunk and Saarland withdrew as shareholders, so that Leonardy remained the only partner.

Prominent representatives of the respective priority countries always act as patrons. So far, among others, the President of the French Republic , Jacques Chirac , the Prince of Wales , the Presidents of the Federal Republic of Germany , Johannes Rau and Horst Köhler , the President of the Russian Federation , Vladimir Putin , the King of Spain and the President of the European Commission Patrons of the Saar Music Festival .

There were numerous world premieres and so-called premieres of modern times (including previously lost works by Maurice Ravel and Luigi Boccherini ).

For the Festival Español (1999), the Saar Music Festival was awarded first prize in the European Commission's Kaleidoscope program .

Robert Leonardy announced that the 2013 festival would take place under his direction for the last time. After the end of the festival, he will transfer the management of the festival to other hands. At its meeting on September 11, 2013, the shareholders of Festspiel GmbH appointed his son, the musician and music teacher Bernhard Leonardy as the new artistic director of the festival.

The festival is struggling to assert itself in the cultural landscape of Saarland after Saarland broadcasting and the Saarland withdrew as partners.

Previous topics

  • 1989 Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
  • 1991 Antonín Dvořák
  • 1993 Maurice Ravel
  • 1995 British Music
  • 1997 Hungary Festival
  • 1999 Festival Español
  • 2001 France
  • 2003 Russian music
  • 2005 Musica Italiana
  • 2007 Nordic music
  • 2009 American Music
  • 2011 Austria, the country of music
  • 2013 Germany, the country of music ("Bonjour Germany")
  • 2015 Poland Festival ("Witamy Polske!")
  • 2017 China
  • 2019: New Generation

Orchestra in selection

Vocal ensembles to choose from

Choice of soloists

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Oliver Schwambach: Like father, like son . In: Saarbrücker Zeitung of September 12, 2013, p. B4

Web links