A quarter of a century Brahmstage: music festival with an orchestral symphony

Created: 09/30/2022, 07:09

By: Laura Forster

Organizing very special Brahmstage this year: Stephan Beck (left), Thomas Zagel and Andreas Dessauer (right) from the Friends of the Tutzinger Brahmstage with Elisabeth Carr from the art spaces at the lake.

© Maren martell

The Brahmstage in Tutzing, well-known beyond the district borders, are taking place for the 25th time this year.

This year is also the 125th anniversary of the death of the composer Johannes Brahms, after whom the music festival was named.

Both are celebrated with an orchestral symphony.

Tutzing – For the first time in the history of the Tutzinger Brahmstage, orchestral symphonies will be heard from Monday, October 3rd to Sunday, October 30th.

Because the Friends of the Tutzinger Brahmstage have a lot to celebrate this year: On the 25th anniversary of the classical music festival, the association is commemorating the 125th anniversary of the death of the composer Johannes Brahms.

On this occasion, the Munich Symphony Orchestra will play the four symphonies by Johannes Brahms under the direction of the internationally acclaimed conductor Alondra de la Parra - each combined with a symphony by Antonin Dvorák.

According to a press release from the association, the series of concerts is being organized by the Circle of Friends in cooperation with Elisabeth Carr's Kunsträume am See and Manfred Frei's Loft Music.

The concert venue is the stately neo-baroque Church of St. Joseph, the only room in Tutzing

In 1958 the world-famous pianist Elly Ney founded the "Tutzinger Musiktage" to commemorate Brahms's time in Tutzing.

On the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the composer's death, the first Tutzinger Brahmstage took place in October 1997, at that time under the artistic direction of Christian Lange.

Many instrumentations were in the programs of the concerts: piano music, string quartet to string octet, piano trio, chamber music with wind instruments, song recitals, vocal music from quartet to choir, oratorio and mass.

Internationally celebrated opera stars such as Jonas Kaufmann, Hermann Prey, Christian Gerhaher, Franz Hawlata and Michael Volle as well as outstanding musicians and ensembles have performed in Tutzing and interpreted works by Brahms and other composers.

"We cordially invite you to celebrate the anniversary of the Tutzinger Brahmstage with us.

Playing a tribute to a great master on the shores of beautiful Lake Starnberg after the pandemic years is something very special.

The orchestra is also very much looking forward to working with the conductor Alondra de la Parra,” says the director of the Munich Symphony Orchestra, Tilman Dost.

"We want to offer our members, but also all friends of Brahms and classical music, a very special festival program this autumn," emphasizes Andreas Dessauer, chairman of the Tutzinger Brahmstage Friends Group.

The Brahms Days will be officially opened on October 3rd in the Evangelical Academy in Tutzing.

Then comes piano music by Brahms and Dvorák combined with text recitations about the relationship between the two composers.

On October 9th, Dvorák's 8th Symphony meets Brahms' magnificent 1st Symphony, marked by a homage to Beethoven.

On October 16, Dvorák's famous 9th symphony “From the New World” will be performed together with Brahms' pastorally emotional 2nd symphony.

Dvorák's 7th symphony (1885) and Brahms' 3rd symphony (1883) were composed almost simultaneously and can be heard in Tutzing on 23 October.

As a contrast to the finale of the Brahms Days on October 30th, the profoundly weighty expression of Brahms' 4th symphony will be preceded by Dvorák's cheerfully lively 6th symphony.

Online tickets are available for 35 euros (10 euros reduced) at tutzinger-brahmstage.de or kunstraeume-am-see.de.