Give up? No. In a few weeks, the festival team put together a completely new program. The message: the harder the editions, the more creative the concerts.
Photo: Oliver Lang
If need be, Evelyn Meining finds clear words. Director of the Würzburg Mozart Festival since 2014, she proves it every year in her speeches at the opening of the festival. But when it comes down to looking at what is still to be achieved, Meining only exudes positive optimism. It was probably a tough struggle to design a completely different and significantly reduced program for the Mozart Festival 2020 in a few weeks. At the press conference on Wednesday, Meining hardly let it through that she, managing director Katharina Strein and the rest of the team not only had to overcome organizational hurdles.
But you can guess it, for example when Meining responds to the rule recently announced by Prime Minister Markus Söder with a maximum of 50 visitors for cultural events in closed rooms. That surprised her. Such a blanket announcement shows the status that culture currently enjoys: “What does the number 50 say without being related to space?” The director becomes a little sarcastic: “Culture is systemically important. Not just hardware stores, hairdressing salons and beer gardens.”
“Culture is systemically important. Not just hardware stores, hairdressing salons and beer gardens.”
Mozart Festival director Evelyn Meining–
The two rooms that were intended for the live concerts this year – the rotation hall of the Vogel Convention Center (VCC) and the blue hall of va-Q-tec AG – would have provided space for at least 250 visitors, according to Meining, according to Meining. Mayor Christian Schuchardt therefore wants the number 50 to be understood as “50 with a big plus”. Of course, they will continue to strictly adhere to all the rules, but the regulations could change again quickly. “We then have to decide that promptly, week by week,” says Schuchardt.
Photo: Thomas Obermeier
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Culture as food, as a location factor: artistic director, managing director, mayor and Würzburg’s culture officer Achim Könneke want the fact that there is a Mozart Festival 2020 to be understood as a signal. To the public, to the artists, to business and gastronomy, to society. He keeps hearing sentences like “Does that have to be?” or “It’s a luxury,” reports Könneke. As if you could hibernate the culture for a year and then let a fairy kiss you up. The cultural officer says: “That is not possible.”
Under the motto “moving on” there should now be 43 instead of 75 events. Right from the start, the company deliberately decided not only to use digital formats, says Evelyn Meining. There will be some video livestreams (at www.br-online.de): a themed night on June 9th with chamber music ensembles from the Kaisersaal and on June 21st Reinhard Goebel, Artiste étoile 2020, with the Munich Radio Orchestra in a small cast. The MozartLabor from June 13 to 16 and the live concerts in the final week will also be streamed.
“This time, the visitors also have to be flexible.”
Mozartfest managing director Katharina Strein–
There are also appearances of the music truck “Blauer Eumel” in Würzburg and some radio concerts that are recorded in the residence’s white room and later broadcast. And surprise balcony concerts on June 20 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. with Christoph Eß and his formation “german hornsound”. It is not revealed where exactly which balcony is used in order not to provoke people’s collections.
In the foreground are the four real live concerts. Here, too, the programs have been changed and shortened, the ensembles downsized. The Chamber Academy Potsdam (June 24th and 25th, VCC), the orchestra in the stairwell (June 26th) and the loud compagney Berlin (June 27th) will play. Evelyn Meining promises that the orchestra in the stairwell will deal creatively with the subject of human proximity and distance. Individually assigned moving circles of light should literally guide visitors through the concert. If you like, you can use a specially developed app.
And then there are the practical questions. Who should get when, how and how many cards when so much can change? “It will be difficult,” Managing Director Katharina Strein. Not all questions have been answered here. Tickets can be reserved by phone from June 3, there may be waiting lists. “This time, the visitors also have to be flexible.”
Reservations and questions To the program from June 3 (Mon.-Fri. 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.) by phone at (0931) 37-2336. The current status is available on the Mozart Festival website at www.mozartfest.de
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Wurzburg
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Mathias Wiedemann
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Hardware stores
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Beer gardens
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Christian Schuchardt
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Hotel and catering trade
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Directors
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Chamber music ensembles
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Markus Söder
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Mozart Festival Wuerzburg
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Munich Radio Orchestra
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orchestra
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Reinhard Goebel
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va-Q-tec AG
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