Sommerliche Musiktage Hitzacker ("summerly music days Hitzacker") is the name of a traditional international festival of classical

chamber music Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small num ...

in Hitzacker,

Lower Saxony Lower Saxony (german: Niedersachsen ; nds, Neddersassen; stq, Läichsaksen) is a German state (') in northwestern Germany. It is the second-largest state by land area, with , and fourth-largest in population (8 million in 2021) among the 16 ...

, Germany. Founded in 1946, it is held annually for nine days beginning with the last weekend in July.

History

The first festival was held in the summer of 1946, it is therefore regarded as the first chamber music festival in Germany. The first artistic director was the cellist Hans Döscher who directed the festival until his death in 1971. He focused the festival on chamber music, both

Early music Early music generally comprises Medieval music (500–1400) and Renaissance music (1400–1600), but can also include Baroque music (1600–1750). Originating in Europe, early music is a broad musical era for the beginning of Western classic ...

and contemporary. From 2012 to 2015, the violinist

Carolin Widmann Carolin Widmann (born 1976) is a German classical violinist. The sister of composer and clarinetist Jörg Widmann, she focuses mainly on contemporary music. She plays a violin made in 1782 by Giovanni Battista Guadagnini. Career Born in Munic ...

directed the festival. From 2016, Oliver Wille has been the director, a founding member of the

Kuss Quartet The Kuss Quartet with Jana Kuss (violin), Oliver Wille (violin), William Coleman (viola) and Mikayel Hakhnazaryan (cello) is a Berlin-based string quartet. It was founded in 1991 at the Hochschule für Musik "Hanns Eisler" by the two violinists o ...

and a professor of chamber music for strings at the

Musikhochschule Hannover A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music academy, music faculty, college of music, music department (of a larger in ...

Program

The program has included concerts of chamber music from

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

to regular premieres, new concert projects, literature, dance and film. Each year used to have a motto, such as "Europe" in 2009 and "Ins Labor" in 2010, presenting experiments in music, and music related to inventors. In 2016, the new director programmed without a motto, but focused on the festival as a meeting point and had the audience decide one concert program. Premieres have included the Flute Concerto by Isang Yun on 30 July 1977, played by

Karlheinz Zöller Karlheinz Zöller (24 August 1928 – 29 July 2005) was a German flutist, and solo fluteplayer in the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra between 1960–1969 and 1976–1993. Early life and education Karlheinz Zöller was born in Höhr-Grenzhausen (ne ...

and conducted by

Günther Weißenborn Günther Weißenborn (2 June 1911 – 25 February 2001) was a German classical pianist, accompanist, Conducting, conductor and academic teacher. Awards * 1976: Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany External links

* {{DE ...

Jörg Widmann Jörg Widmann (born 19 June 1973) is a German composer, conductor and clarinetist. In 2018, Widmann was the third most performed contemporary composer in the world. Formerly a clarinet and composition professor at the University of Music Freib ...

's second string quartet, ''Choralquartett'', was commissioned by the festival and premiered by the Keller Quartet on 29 July 2003.

Artists

International artists who have appeared at the festival include "composers in residence" such as

Krzysztof Penderecki Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki (; 23 November 1933 – 29 March 2020) was a Polish composer and conductor. His best known works include '' Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima'', Symphony No. 3, his '' St Luke Passion'', '' Polish Requiem'', ...

in 2001, before

Aribert Reimann Aribert Reimann (born 4 March 1936) is a German composer, pianist and accompanist, known especially for his literary operas. His version of Shakespeare's ''King Lear'', the opera ''Lear'', was written at the suggestion of Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau ...

Olivier Messiaen Olivier Eugène Prosper Charles Messiaen (, ; ; 10 December 1908 – 27 April 1992) was a French composer, organist, and ornithologist who was one of the major composers of the 20th century. His music is rhythmically complex; harmonical ...

György Ligeti György Sándor Ligeti (; ; 28 May 1923 – 12 June 2006) was a Hungarian-Austrian composer of contemporary classical music. He has been described as "one of the most important avant-garde composers in the latter half of the twentieth century" ...

and

Witold Lutosławski Witold Roman Lutosławski (; 25 January 1913 – 7 February 1994) was a Polish composer and conductor. Among the major composers of 20th-century classical music, he is "generally regarded as the most significant Polish composer since Szyma ...

, also Heinz Holliger, Bernhard Lang,

Helmut Lachenmann Helmut Friedrich Lachenmann (born 27 November 1935) is a German composer of contemporary classical music. His work has been associated with "instrumental musique concrète". Life and works Lachenmann was born in Stuttgart and after the end ...

and

Wolfgang Rihm Wolfgang Rihm (born 13 March 1952) is a German composer and academic teacher. He is musical director of the Institute of New Music and Media at the University of Music Karlsruhe and has been composer in residence at the Lucerne Festival and the ...

Dieter Ammann Dieter Ammann (born 17 May 1962 in Aarau) is a Swiss composer who plays bass guitar, trumpet, cornet, and keyboard. Biography He studied at the Academy for Music Education and Church Music in Lucerne and spent several semesters at the Swiss J ...

was composer in residence in 2014. Instrumentalists have included Anatol Ugorski, Boris Pergamenschikow, Dinorah Varsi,

Rosamunde Quartet The String Quartet No. 13 in A minor (the ''Rosamunde'' Quartet), D 804, Op. 29, was written by Franz Schubert between February and March 1824. It dates roughly to the same time as his monumental ''Death and the Maiden Quartet'', emerging around ...

, Hilliard Ensemble, Stephen Kovachevich,

Patricia Kopatchinskaja Patricia Kopatchinskaja (born March 1977) is a Moldovan-Austrian-Swiss violinist. Biography Early life Kopatchinskaja was born in Chișinău, in the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic (now Moldova). She comes from a family of musicians. ...

and

Sol Gabetta Sol Gabetta (born 18 April 1981) is an Argentine cellist. The daughter of Andrés Gabetta and Irène Timacheff-Gabetta, she has French and Russian ancestry. Her brother Andrés is a baroque violinist. Career Gabetta began to learn violin at t ...

, and

Ensemble Modern Ensemble Modern is an international ensemble dedicated to performing and promoting the music of modern composers. Formed in 1980, the group is based in Frankfurt, Germany, and made up variously of about twenty members from numerous countries. Hi ...

. The conductor and pianist received the Belmont Prize at the festival in 2009. Among the performers who appeared at the festival in the beginning of their career are Amadeus Quartet,

Emerson String Quartet The Emerson String Quartet, also known as the Emerson Quartet, is an American string quartet that was initially formed as a student group at the Juilliard School in 1976. It was named for American poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson and beg ...

, Baiba Skride and Lauma Skride, and

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sommerliche Musiktage Hitzacker Classical music festivals in Germany Music festivals established in 1946 Recurring events established in 1946

History

Program

Artists

References

Further reading

External links