Heinrich Schütz has held an influence over successive generations of musicians like no other. Throughout his 87 years of life, he governed over and accompanied the musical development of central Germany in a truly unique way. He is considered to be the “Father of our Modern Music” and was the first German composer of international stature. In honor of this great composer and musician, the Society of Central German Baroque Music in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia, in a broad cooperation with the HEINRICH SCHÜTZ MUSIC FESTIVAL,have been organizing events for almost 20 years at the original sites associated with Heinrich Schütz throughout central Germany.
The festival places the work of the early Baroque master and his contemporaries in the center of a multi-faceted program, inviting music lovers of all generations to approach this music in deliberately diverse ways – taking into account historically-informed performance practice as well as interpreting from an invigoratingly fresh contemporary perspective. The Heinrich Schütz Music Festival is thus a key player in the intense, broad, and diverse fostering of Schütz’s music in German-speaking countries, with central Germany acting as its spiritual center, with its central location in which the main protagonists of German culture could be found. Here we find not only the central locations from the life of the Sagittarius, but also important cultural centers of worldwide eminence, firmly planted in the world of today.
Many long-standing as well as more recent collaborations enable the implementation of the idea for a festival spread throughout three states. The main organizer is the Society of Central German Baroque Music in Saxony, Saxony-Anhalt, and Thuringia. It’s director, Dr. Christina Siegfried, is also the artistic director of the HEINRICH SCHÜTZ MUSIC FESTIVAL. It is organized in cooperation with three permanent partners, who also act as co-organizers for their respective states: The Schütz Academy in Bad Köstritz, the city of Weissenfels, and the Weissenfels Music Society “Heinrich Schütz”, as well as the Dresden Court Music. The local partners are continuously involved with the nurturing of Schütz’s heritage and provide the HEINRICH SCHÜTZ MUSIC FESTIVAL with its regional rootedness, creative participation, and unmistakable appearance.