Mendelssohn, Masur and the Importance of Music in Leipzig
This November at the Mendelssohn Festival, Leipzig celebrates the 25th anniversary of the opening of the Mendelssohn Haus and the 175th anniversary of the death of the famous composer.
New York, New York, Tuesday August 9 -- This is a special year commemorating the 175th anniversary of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's death and celebrating the 25th anniversary of the Mendelssohn House in Leipzig. The Mendelssohn Festival will open on October 31, 2022, the day on which Kurt Masur opened the restored Mendelssohn House 25 years ago, and end on November 6, 2022.
One of the great connections between Leipzig and the world is music. Leipzig brings us Mendelssohn, Brahms, Wagner, Bach, the Gewandhausorchester, the St Thomas Boys Choir, the Oper Leipzig, to name just a few musical treasures. Many people also remember one of Leipzig’s most famous citizens, the conductor Kurt Masur, who led the New York Philharmonic at a crucial time in the orchestra’s history from 1991 to 2022 after the Peaceful Revolution but also through New York City’s history in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of 9/11.
Masur’s connection to Mendelssohn was vital and today lives on in the Mendelssohn Festival. From 1970 to 1996, as conductor of the Gewandhaus, in the tradition of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, he shaped the Leipzig not only musically, but also socially through his involvement in the Peaceful Revolution in the fall of 1989. The preservation of the Leipzig Mendelssohn House was Masur’s desire and life's work.
The Kurt Masur Institute has been keeping the memory of Kurt Masur and his life's work alive since 2016. It serves as a place of encounter and education in the humanistic and cosmopolitan sense of the Maestro and wants to open up new cultural perspectives to people worldwide, especially children and young people, “through the power of music”. The institute is part of the Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy Foundation in the Mendelssohn House in Leipzig.
The Mendelssohn Festival has become a pillar of the international brand “Music City: Leipzig.” In cooperation between the Gewandhaus and Mendelssohn-Haus Leipzig, the exquisite festival program with symphony concerts, chamber music and discussion formats is created every year around the anniversary of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy's death on November 4th. The concerts in the house where Mendelssohn lived and died are among the authentic experiences that Leipzig, the city of music, can offer.
The variety of music in the city and region of Leipzig is just as varied as the locations in which it is played. Unusual locations, such as quarries, monastery ruins, castles or palace courtyards can cast a spell over music lovers. The repertoire ranges from classical music in a symphonic formation to concerts by individual artists or bands of various genres to performances by world-famous stars.
The Leipzig Music Trail connects the most important original locations in Leipzig city center over a distance of 5.1 km. Curved steel elements in the floor mark the ribbon meandering through the city center. You can start and end the tour at any station. Some of the important upcoming classical festivals, including this year’s Mendelssohn Festival, are the following:
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