Summer music days Hitzacker

The Hitzacker Summer Music Days are the oldest German festival for chamber music . It takes place every year around August 1st in Hitzacker an der Elbe ( Lower Saxony ).

The Hitzacker Summer Music Days are one of the traditional and renowned and at the same time one of the most innovative German music festivals. Founded in 1946 in a rather modest setting at the time, they quickly developed into a nationally recognized festival.

The festival offers chamber music in a wide range of styles - from lute songs to chamber operas , from solo performances to chamber orchestras , from music of the Middle Ages to contemporary music . The supporting program includes the listeners' academy, choir singing for everyone and the “Teaching Festival Artists” course.

The main venue is the Verdo concert hall in Hitzacker. The events also take place in churches in the region and outside on the vineyard or on the Elbe. The organizer is the sponsoring association, the Society of Friends of the Summer Music Days Hitzacker e. V.

history

Before the Second World War , Hitzacker was a small town with around 2,000 inhabitants. Due to the influx of refugees at the end of the war, the population doubled. There were also many musicians among the refugees, and after initial house and church concerts, the first Hitzacker Summer Music Days took place in the summer of 1946. Cellist Hans Döscher was the first artistic director . He directed the Summer Music Days until his death in 1971. He significantly shaped the profile by setting the focus of the music festival with old and new chamber music.

management

From 2012 to 2015 the festival was under the artistic direction of the internationally renowned violinist Carolin Widmann . In 2016 Oliver Wille, violinist and founding member of the Kuss Quartet , professor for chamber string music and experienced program designer, took over the leadership.

program

Almost every concert is put together especially for the festival and can only be experienced in this form in Hitzacker or as a world premiere in Hitzacker. The encounter with other genres such as literature, film, dance, visual arts and science is always sought.

Music mediation

The central idea of the lively examination of chamber music is reflected u. a. in the "supporting program" of the Summer Music Days:

The Audience Academy , which was first held in 2001 , prepares visitors for the concerts in the form of lectures, workshop concerts, panel discussions and comparisons of interpretations.

From 2002 to 2012, the Summer Music Days as part of the Youth Academy invited young people interested in music to Hitzacker: up to 25 Festival Fellows from all over Germany visited the festival as part of a scholarship and experienced rehearsals, workshops, artist talks and much more. In the following years, music students and young people received Professionals have the chance to participate as scholarship holders in the festival academy and later in the award-winning academy. In front of, on and behind the stage, they gained experience that helped sharpen their own artist profile. They conceived their own “pre-concerts” and designed their own concert projects. They also got involved socially: They brought music “live” to those people in the region who could not come to the festival due to their living conditions. In 2020 the particularly successful will return to the festival as alumni.

As a third component of music education, a program has been offered since 2006, which is aimed at amateur musicians of all ages: Under the motto "Teaching Festival Artists", the festival offers chamber music courses for amateur ensembles and individuals. Music enthusiasts can get tips and tricks from the musicians of the festival.

As part of the program item Choral Singing for Everyone (since 2007), an amateur choir of the festival led by a professional choir director, everyone can take part in singing with others who has joy.

Awards

In 2004 and 2007, the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation awarded the festival one of its sponsorship awards, which are awarded to composers, ensembles and institutions at home and abroad who “have made a particular contribution to contemporary music.” In 2009 the festival received one of the six music education awards from Musikland Niedersachsen and the Niedersächsische Sparkassenstiftung for their Labor Orchester project . The project was realized on August 3, 2010 as part of the 65th Summer Music Days Hitzacker. The sponsoring association of the festival was nominated in the category “Sponsorship Association of the Year 2012” at the Kulturmarken-Award 2012. In 2017 the audience of the festival belonged to the top group of the 6 nominees for the “Audience of the Year” award from the music magazine Concerti.

Artist

Among the internationally known artists who have performed at the Hitzacker Summer Music Days over the years are:

Composers

Performers

The festival is also a place where emerging artists perform. These were z. B .:

Culture and media partner

A longstanding cultural and media partnership connects the festival with the Norddeutscher Rundfunk and Deutschlandfunk . Radio broadcasts at the festival summer of the SWR , at the ARD radio festival ( BR , HR , MDR , NDR , Radio Bremen , RBB , SR , SWR and WDR ) as well as numerous concert broadcasts (including live broadcasts) and feature broadcasts on NDR Kultur , Deutschlandfunk and Deutschlandradio Kultur , Deutsche Welle World etc. document the national and international broadcast.