From 6. bis 16. September in Frankfurt and the Rhine-Main area
(ffm) Under the motto "Goethe and the Music" the 7th Goethe Festival Week will take place from 6 to 16 September 2018. Around 30 events are dedicated to Goethe's multifaceted relationship with music and the numerous musical adaptations of his work.
"The preoccupation with music was essential in Goethe's life as well as in his writing. With its focus this year, the Goethe Festival Week is taking a look at a perspective that has often been neglected in the examination of Goethe's work," says Head of the Department of Culture Ina Hartwig.
Helmut Müller, Managing Director of the Kulturfonds Frankfurt RheinMain, is pleased that 2018 will also see events in the region for the first time: "Charming locations with history and stories surrounding the poet and music connect Goethe's birthplace with the region in this extensive programme for the Goethe Festival Week."
"Goethe's musical biography, his friendships with musicians of his time and the musical reception of his works have provided sufficient material for many co-organizers to put together a highly diverse program," explains Prof. Anne Bohnenkamp-Renken, Director of the Freies Deutsches Hochstift/Frankfurt Goethe Museum. "We can expect an extraordinary musical journey of discovery in the Goethe cosmos."
On September 6, a concert followed by a discussion will open the Goethe Festival Week. The Ensemble Modern will perform a work commissioned by composer Prof. Gordon Kampe at the Frankfurt Goethe-Haus, after which conductor and musicologist Prof. Peter Gülke, musicologist Prof. Friederike Wißmann and Gordon Kampe will discuss Goethe's musical life. In addition to the opening, the Frankfurt Goethe House will present many other events and, as in previous years, will be the central venue for the 7th Goethe Festival Week.
Goethe Festival curator Julia Cloot underlines the great importance that Goethe's work also has in music history: "The numerous settings of his texts by many important composers have made the poet an important point of reference in music as well."
A highlight of the programme is the musical-literary soiree "Der Zauberflöte zweyter Theil" (The Magic Flute Part Two), jointly staged by the Opera and Schauspiel Frankfurt. In addition to the diverse range of concerts, discussions and lectures, several plays are also part of the programme. Events with poetry slammers and on Goethe adaptations in film and pop music also establish a link to the pop-cultural present. As early as June, there will also be three concerts with the youth choir and the Hochtaunus Youth Symphony Orchestra. An extensive special programme by hr2-kultur accompanies the Goethe Festival Week, in which, for example, Goethe's singspiel and opera texts are presented.
The Goethe Festival Week is a biennial series of events. For the first time, the program was curated by Julia Cloot of the Kulturfonds RheinMain and developed cooperatively with the participating institutions. In Frankfurt this year, the Freie Deutsche Hochstift/Frankfurt Goethe Museum, Theater Willy Praml, Goethe University Frankfurt, Frankfurt Opera, Schauspiel Frankfurt, studioNAXOS, Junge Deutsche Philharmonie and Ensemble Modern are contributing to the program.
In the region, events for the Goethe Festival Week will take place at the following locations: In the Brentanohaus in Oestrich-Winkel, in the Büsingpalais in Offenbach, in the Literaturhaus Darmstadt, in the Comoedienhaus Wilhelmsbad in Hanau, in Wiesbaden, in the Schlosskirche Bad Homburg and in Flörsheim.
Further information can be found at: <link http: www.goethe-festwoche.de _blank>
