Music Preparations for Merseburg Organ Days underway
Preparations for this year’s organ festival are underway in Merseburg. Photo
© Jan Woitas/dpa/ZB
This year’s organ festival will take place in Merseburg from September 7th. The focus will be on Austria and part of its musical history.
A good two weeks before the start, preparations are currently underway in Merseburg for the 54th Organ Festival. Under the motto “Austria, the land of music – from Viennese classics to the Viennese school of modernism”, the organizers want to attract music lovers from near and far to the town in the Saale district again this year. Several concerts are planned at various locations from September 7th to 15th.
During the event, around 300 years of Austrian music history will be the focus, according to the organizers. Music will not only be played in Merseburg Cathedral, but also in the baroque church in Burgliebenau and in Merseburg Castle, among others.
According to the association’s own information, the organ festival in Merseburg was taken over in 1994 by the Friends of Music and Monument Preservation Association in Churches in the Merseburg region. This also enabled the Ladegast organ to be restored between 2002 and 2004. It was built by the organ builder Friedrich Ladegast (1818-1905) and, according to the association, with its 5,687 pipes, is one of the “largest and most beautiful sounding romantic organs in all of Germany”.
Organ music and organ building have been recognized as intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO since 2017.
Programme of the Merseburg Organ Days
dpa
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