DW host Cristina Burack brings you the best from this year's classical music festivals in Germany, in the form of an online audio series and radio broadcasts.
The news season of 'DW Festival Concert' begins on October 4Image: Imago/Imagebroker
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Bach in Leipzig, Beethoven in Bonn, Mozart in Würzburg or Wagner in Bayreuth: These landmark music festivals featuring extraordinary composers are part of the audio series, DW Festival Concert (DWFC).
In 13 two-hour episodes, DW brings you all the names that stand for charisma and innovation in the German classical music scene.
The first season begins in October, with a new episode released every two weeks online on DW.
The program is produced in two languages, English and Russian, and broadcast through different DW partner radio stations in Canada, the United States and several other English-speaking countries. Russian broadcaster Radio Orpheus is also broadcasting the program in Russian.
Performances will feature music from the likes of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra, seen hereImage: picture-alliance/dpa/B. von Jutrczenka
Decades of classical music at DW
DWFC goes back a long way. In fact, apart from DW News, it is probably one of Deutsche Welle's oldest programs — classical music has played a big role for the German broadcaster ever since it was founded in 1953.
DWFC, in the form that it is today — as a curated concert program with recordings of leading German classical music festivals — has been present since 1983.
At the time, music journalist Rick Fulker, who had freshly made his way from the US to Germany, was responsible for the program and produced it until his retirement in 2020.
During the nearly four decades he spent at the broadcaster in Bonn, Fulker produced a staggering 770 episodes featuring classical music recordings. In his own words, what he found most fascinating was "the strong connection with the listener but also with my first home, the USA, as well as my chosen home, Germany."
Rick Fulker (left) conducted many interviews with musical stars, including baritone Georg ZeppenfeldImage: DW/A. Feilcke
Fulker explored the jungle of the German festival landscape, with an ever-increasing number of events dedicated to classical music. According to the German Music Information Center (MIZ), the number of classical music festivals increased fourfold from 1980 to around 500 events in 2010.
Not only the big and traditional festivals are included — the program also features younger and smaller events, like the chamber music festival Spannungen in Heimbach. Conversations with artists and festival organizers are a part of the broadcast. "The music programs for radio partners were not mainstream, but belonged to a niche, which was and still is very successful," said Fulker.
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From Fulker to Burack: Passing the baton
Fulker paved the way for advancing the series, and Cristina Burack will now take over as host, producing the audio series with DW journalists Anastassia Boutsko, Gaby Reucher and music producer Thomas Schmidt for the new season, which begins on October 4.
Cristina Burack hosts 'DW Festival Concert'Image: Privat
Burack, 34, also comes from the US, where she trained in classical music and history. Burack has worked in London and Berlin, all the while preserving her love for music.
"When I make music or listen to music, I lose myself in the rhythm and forget," she said, adding that she gets her love for music from her parents. She wants to now share her enthusiasm for music with listeners.
Imagine Mozart: the composer in art
Gerhard Richter, Max Slevogt and Oskar Kokoschka — all of these artists have found great inspiration in composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's music. An exhibition in Würzburg highlights his influence.
Image: Museum im Kulturspeicher
100 years of the Mozart Festival
For 100 years, the Würzburg Residence has been one of the main venues used during the Mozart Festival. This anniversary will not only be celebrated in music, but also visually with the exhibition "Imagine Mozart." It highlights how various artists have beeen influenced by Mozart's work and personality over the past 250 years.
Image: Fotolia
Portrait by Joseph Langes (1782/83)
This is how Mozart is supposed to have looked. This portrait created by the Würzburg painter Joseph Lange is considered to be the only authentic Mozart painting. Other portraits are often idealized to fit the mental image of a creative genius, says art historian Damian Dombrowski. "Few dared to show Mozart as unattractive as he actually was — according to those around him."
Image: Stiftung Mozarteum Salzburg
The many faces of Mozart
It was not until 70 years after his death that the first monument to Mozart was erected in Salzburg. On the right-hand side, there is an image of a monument design by Edmund von Hellmer. He placed Mozart on a pedestal surrounded by columns and garlands. The sculptor shows Mozart as a genius caught in a moment of inspiration, his gaze wandering into the distance. But the design was never realized.
Image: Dita Vollmond
A 3-D montage of Mozart
Arman was a French-US American object artist of the Nouveau Realisme artistic movement. He became famous for his montages of everyday objects. His "Portrai-robot de Mozart" (Mugshot of Mozart) in 1985 was made from instruments, music books, and clothing. It was meant to serve as an example of how the idea of Mozart is composed not only of his music, but also of myth and image.
Image: Dita Vollmond
An intimate approach to young Amadeus
Art historian and co-curator of the exhibition Damian Dombrowski finds this bronze by Louis-Ernest Barrias created in the 1880s to be a depiction full of intimacy and empathy. It shows Mozart as a child. "Mozart is completely at home with himself and his violin. He doesn't seem to notice the viewer."
Image: Dita Vollmond
Androgyny in Mozart's operas
Many images that deal with Mozart are inspired by his operas and their characters, like Cherubino from Mozart's "The Marriage of Figaro" seen here. The role of the androgynous youth is sung by women. The portrait painter Jacques-Émile Blanche put his favorite model Desirée Manfred in the clothes of Cherubino for this portrait, which is said to have been painted around 1903.
Image: Christian Devleeschauwer
Max Slevogt's "Champagnerlied" (1901/02)
"The Champagne Song" by impressionist Max Slevogt is one of the highlights of the exhibition. Slevogt felt a close kinship with Mozart's operas. He surrounded himself with Mozart portraits and drawings. Slevogt's portrait of the opera star Francisco d'Andrade in the champagne-colored costume of Don Giovanni has become one of the most recognized paintings of an opera character.
Image: Dita Vollmond
A Mozart tapestry
Expressionist Oskar Kokoschka designed the set and costumes for Mozart's "The Magic Flute" twice — once in the 1950s and once in the 1960s. He combined various informal scenes from his sketches of the opera on this woven tapestry.
Image: Dita Vollmond
'Mozart' (1981) by Gerhard Richter
Artists of the 20th century were particularly inspired by Mozart's music. "It is quite rare for Gerhard Richter to give a painting a title," says Damian Dombrowski. The curator sees clarity, transparency and playfulness in Richter's color composition — just as is the case in Mozart's music. The exhibition "Imagine Mozart” will be shown at the Kulturspeicher Würzburg gallery until July 11.
Image: Gerhard Richter
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"For me, it is important to communicate that there is not only 'one' classical music — a rigid practice with fixed institutions and strict rules," she said. "There are so many different kinds of music, so much exciting information. And finally, it's about emotions, about human feelings and common experience. That is the classical music that I want to communicate. So that people listen to a program on a German festival and say, 'Yes, I want to go there. That's something I wasn't expecting, and I want more of it!'"
