Ludwig van Beethoven Music Festival in Zittau

The Academic Choir of the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences and the International University Institute Zittau will be taking its summer break at the end of the semester with two magnificent, large-scale and demanding concerts. The programs are dedicated exclusively to works by Ludwig van Beethoven and will be performed by an outstanding ensemble under the direction of KMD Prof. Dr. Neithard Bethke.

The first concert will take place on Saturday, June 25 at 5 p.m. in St. Anthony's Cathedral in Liberec/Czech Republic, the second one day later on Sunday, June 26 at 6 p.m. in St. Mary's Church in Zittau. Admission to both concerts, which are sponsored by the Sparkasse Oberlausitz/Lower Silesia Foundation, the city of Zittau, the Graphische Werkstätten Zittau, the Studentenwerk Dresden and the Euroregion Neisse-Nisa-Nysa  , is free, but an appropriate collection is requested to cover the high costs.

The program includes three well-known works by Ludwig van Beethoven: the two concerts will each open with the famous Violin Concerto in D major for solo violin and orchestra op. 61, followed by the six so-called Gellert Lieder op. 48, which are otherwise almost never heard either in the concert hall or in churches. They  are performed here in an arrangement for solo soprano and orchestra  by Neithard Bethke as his opus 74. The concerts conclude with the Mass in C major op. 86 for soloists, choir, organ and orchestra.

Following on from the great success of last year's Mozart Requiem concerts, outstanding performers have once again been recruited: The violin concerto will be performed by the 1st concertmaster of the German Bach Orchestra Roland Knauth from Dresden, who gave an unsurpassable rendition of Johann Sebastian Bach's E major violin concerto here in Zittau at the beginning of last year. The Berlin soprano Christina Roterberg, who has already proven her captivating ability in the performance of the Mozart Requiem in Zittau,  has been entrusted with the deeply religious Gellert songs.

The other vocal soloists in the mass are on a par: the alto role in Liberec  is sung by the star alto of the National Opera in Prague Vaclava Krejci Houskova, in Zittau by the proven Uta Runne from Berlin. The tenor part will be sung by Volker Arndt from Berlin and the bass part by Pavel Kobrle from Prague.

In addition to the Zittau/Görlitz Academic Choir, the Czech choir A my taky from Liberec (conducted by Neithard Bethke) and the Polish chamber choir Collegium Musicum Olsztyn (conducted by Janusz Wilinski) will join the sonorous choral line-up.

The German Bach Orchestra, a reliable and permanent instrumental partner of the Academic Choir,  , will also perform the extensive orchestral part of these two concerts. Neithard Bethke is responsible for the rehearsal of all sections and the overall direction. 

As there are no numbered printed tickets, only detailed programmes with all the necessary information in three languages at the entrance, the organizers recommend that interested listeners arrive well in advance to ensure a good seat.

The concerts are sponsored by the city of Zittau, the Sparkasse Oberlausitz-Niederschlesien Foundation, the Zittau/Görlitz University of Applied Sciences and the Studentenwerk Dresden. Sponzory koncertů jsou město Žitava, Nadace Spořitelny Horní Lužice-Dolní Slezsko, Vysoká škola  Žitava /Zhořelec a "Studentenwerk Dresden".  We would like to thank the Graphische Werkstätten Zittau for their great support! Děkujeme také tiskárně "Graphische Werkstätten Zittau" za skvělou podporu!

The rehearsal work is funded by the European Union and the Regional Development Fund "Joint Small Projects Fund of the Neisse-Nisa-Nysa Euroregion"   Zkoušení a aktivity sboru jsou podporovány z prostředků Evropské unie a Fondu pro regionální rozvoj ("Společný fond pro podporu malých projektů v Euroregionu Neisse-Nisa-Nysa").