This is what the new head of the cultural association is planning

Created: 01/04/2022, 11:39 AM

From: Ulrike Osman

From helper at events to chairman: Although he says that he had no experience in volunteering until then, Manfred Vögele was first elected second and then first chairman.

© Peter Weber

The Fürstenfeld cultural association has a new boss.

In October, the previous deputy chairman Manfred Vögele (69) was elected to the top.

Fürstenfeldbruck - In the Tagblatt interview, the former sales program manager in civil aviation tells how the cultural association survived the corona-related dry spell and what plans there are for the new year.

Mr Vögele, how has the cultural association got through the pandemic so far?

The big events in 2020 were, thank God, still a success.

In March we awarded our 2019 Culture Prize - the lockdown came a week later.

The Young Stars concert in September with Jakob Aumüller on the piano could also take place, with a limited number of visitors and a smaller orchestra.

Only the soprano Katharina Sandmeier was unable to travel from Athens due to the corona quarantine.

We invited them again this year and experienced a great concert.

But there was no culture award for 2020.

We did not award the 2020 Culture Promotion Prize because artists were hardly able to perform.

But it will be back in 2021.

Proposals can be submitted until March 30th.

The award ceremony is to take place in September as part of a concert.

We are therefore bringing the Young Stars concert forward to March.

Anna Buchberger and Henriette Zahn play as soloists on two pianos with the Neue Philharmonie München.

That's a nice combination then and now, because Anna Buchberger was one of the young stars in 2005, Henriette Zahn is one of today's.

The concert series “Young Stars in Fürstenfeld” is one of the longstanding constants of the cultural association.

How do you find out about suitable young musicians?

We get suggestions from the Munich University of Music and the New Philharmonic Hall in Munich.

We are also supported by Christine Hochenbleicher (formerly deputy head of the event forum, editor), who started the series at that time.

We discuss the proposals in the board of directors, but basically we trust the experts.

In October you took over the chairmanship of the cultural association from Karin Schleicher, who is now your deputy.

How did this change of office come about?

That had been planned for a long time.

Karin Schleicher wanted to step back into the second row after many years at the top of the club.

Due to the pandemic, our general meeting planned for March had to be postponed twice so that we could only now hold the new elections.

How did you come to join the cultural association?

I've been with it since 2014 when I retired.

But I also helped organize events beforehand.

I enjoyed that, especially since my wife was already on the advisory board at the time.

When I was asked if I would take on the second chairmanship, I thought why not - even though I had no experience in volunteering until then.

What is the focus of your own cultural interest?

I like classical concerts and jazz.

In addition to the events in Fürstenfeld, my wife and I are often in Munich in the Gasteig and in the Isar Philharmonic.

Listening to classical music live is simply a pleasure.

It's also exciting to see what happens to young artists.

The violinist Tassilo Probst, for example, was one of our young stars in 2018 and, as he recently showed in his concert in the event forum, has developed into an excellent musician with a certainly great future.

What is the cultural association planning for 2022?

In addition to the award of the cultural promotion prize and the Young Stars concert, we want to continue our cooperation with schools.

We want to catch up on a planned tour of the Furthmühle with children, which had to be canceled last year.

A singing project with school classes is also being planned.

As part of our “Culture Compact” series, we want to offer a tour of the monastery grounds.

During a planned guided tour through the city park to the city fountain, we would like to commemorate the designer of the fountain, the sculptor Andreas Sobeck, with a plaque.

In addition, an expert will explain the diverse tree vegetation to us there.

That sounds like an expansion of the term culture ...

We did something similar on the Bruck Sculpture Trail in September.

The combination of art, landscape and music - there was also a band - was great.

The visitors were thrilled.

What are your goals as chairman?

As part of our “Culture Compact” series, I would like to expand cooperation with other culturally active groups.

It is also my goal to continue the successful recruiting process.

Our number of members is constant at around 300, there are almost no withdrawals and no one has left us due to the pandemic.

But I would like to try to get new, also younger members excited about the cultural association.