The “Augustus Garden”: at this point Jan Vogler, director of the Dresden Music Festival, would like to build a concert hall in the next few years with a 600-seat hall, a rehearsal hall, with archives and seminar rooms as a “training, research, performance” and debate venue with global appeal”. Can the city raise the money for it? (Photo: Albrecht Voß, Creative Commons)
“How to continue building in Dresden?” was the name of an event that the Historischer Neumarkt Dresden Society invited in May 2024. Susanne Krause (Alliance 90/The Greens) attracted attention there when she did not have the usual mix on the municipal (!) property on the corner of Augustusbrücke and Köpckestraße (opposite the blockhouse, ‘behind’ the Narrenhäusel, above the former pedestrian tunnel). wanted to see offices, shops, practices and apartments, but instead presented her parliamentary group colleague Thomas Löser’s proposal for public cultural use (1:28h to 1:38h). Thoughtfulness on the podium, critical responses, and finally Johannes Lichdi (dissident) summarized: “Yes, I think that would be a good idea. The space screams for public use. But: This cultural use is not even remotely visible on the horizon.” The reason: Dresden simply doesn’t have the money at the moment to build such a building, whether a museum or a concert hall.
Since this event, Dresden has a new city council (and one less bridge). And: a silver lining of hope has appeared on the horizon in the form of federal funding. Today’s public ones Criesthe formulations and original tones are sometimes below the belt, they make it clear that the positive approval of Claudia Roth’s funds arrives in Dresden at the most unfortunate time possible: just after that one Ms. Roth cut off all funding from the alliance of international production houses (including Hellerau). and the mayor gives the city council a so-called “List of atrocities“has been submitted for resolution in all areas. It should be noted that the project initiated by Jan Vogler has not yet been part of the INSEK “Future Dresden 2035+” (Integrated urban development concept) still decided in 2020 cultural development plan the state capital. Neither the city council’s building committee nor the culture committee were informed about the application for these funds; Vogler says he has only informed the prime minister, mayor and mayor of culture about his plans, but has asked them to remain silent for the time being. Experience has shown that anyone who informs about their plans too early (and thus puts potential donors under pressure) will almost inevitably have their applications rejected.
The aforementioned cultural mayor was reserved when asked today. Annekatrin Klepsch: “It is gratifying that the federal government wants to support the cultural development of the city of Dresden. In view of the current budget situation and especially after the collapse of the Carola Bridge, we need a priority discussion about which investments and permanently financed facilities the city can afford.” Jan Vogler does not shy away from this discussion, and he makes it clear that the federal government’s financial blessing is “a huge gesture for Dresden”; an offer more than an obligation. “I have known for two years that a house with cultural use is to be built for the people of Dresden on the Königsufer,” explained the music festival director. “We were always looking for a rehearsal room, and of course an archive – but it has been on my mind for years whether we could also have a concert hall with 600 seats. Unfortunately, it was no longer possible to build a chamber music hall at the Kulturpalast.” So Vogler asked himself: how can the music festival throw its hat into the ring with a new idea?
“We formulated an application in June 2024,” reports Jan Vogler, “and the city submitted it. The management of the Free State and the city is willing to consider the idea. I didn’t think we had such a high chance. After all, this is one of the largest sums ever decided for culture. The members of the Bundestag were very proud to send this signal to Dresden. We now have to sort out this tangle of threads with all the committees. Of course we thought: is it something that will move us forward? That will be the big communication task of the next few weeks. And then it still has to be decided by the city council.”
The word ‘that’ – behind it lies the state capital’s own investment of millions, which would now have to follow, and whose current secrecy is so irritating to the city council. How much money does the city have to spend itself in order for the federal money to flow? The music festival team doesn’t quite agree on this; figures between 15 and 30 million euros are currently circulating publicly. But here too, Vogler reassures: “The music festival has 80 percent of its own financing. My goal is not to demand more money from the city, but less!” The music festival team also believes that it can cover the ongoing operating costs of the new concert hall, which amount to half a million per year. “The hall will be occupied from morning to evening,” predicts Vogler. If construction could begin in 2026, the house would be usable from 2029. “In the next few days I will approach the Staatskapelle and the new orchestra director Annekatrin Fojuth. And of course I also approach the cultural committee.” And he adds: “Isn’t it also an obligation for a cultural institution like the music festival to fight for a project like this? If I refused, I wouldn’t be doing my job properly.”
In any case, outrage followed from the SPD factions, from Team Zastrow, the CDU and even from the Greens themselves (Ulla Wacker: “Despite all the joy about the federal funding, questions arise. In the current budget situation and without any public discussion, planning a large concert hall on the Königsufer does not seem appropriate to us. […] We want a public place for culture on the Königsufer, but the discussion about it has only just begun.”). By the way, one could almost overlook the fact that there is cautious approval of Vogler’s plans from the currently largest city council faction. Thomas Ladzinski (AfD) made it clear back in May: “I could imagine a much better cultural public use on the Königsufer than in the Robotron canteen.” In other words, I would rather have a Richard Wagner Competence Center than contemporary art. Can we be happy about support of this kind?
If the city council actually gives the green light to finance a new concert hall in the next few months, a public architectural competition will next follow. The words of Heinrich Magirius (DNN dated February 20, 2016) hover above this: “The development on the banks of the Elbe in the new town between the ministries and the blockhouse should – as between the blockhouse and the Japanese Palace – be as low and as low as possible multi-part [!] take place. Even if a concert hall were to be built here, it wouldn’t necessarily have to resemble a deep-sea liner in Dresden. An ‘open’, park-like Neustadt counterpart should be preserved to the stone Old Town bank.”
Background: »Dresden Königsufer – framework conditions for a development between Hotel Bellevue and the Ministry of Finance«ed. from the state capital Dresden (city planning office), March 2017. In it, among other things: State operetta (p. 35) and Concert halls (S. 38).
Martin Morgenstern / About the author
Dr. Martin Morgenstern, editor-in-chief of “Music in Dresden” since 2007, has taught at universities, technical colleges and music colleges in Dresden, Halle/Saale-Wittenberg, Leipzig, Bremen, Eichstätt and Stuttgart and works as a freelance cultural journalist. The highlight of his concert career so far was a duet with Bobby McFerrin at the Tonhalle Zurich. (Author photo: anna.s.)
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