CHAMBER MUSIC FESTIVAL REGENSBURG!

++ September 14 to 22, 2024 ++

A few young musicians prove with the Regensburg Chamber Music Festival how exciting, cool and varied this genre can be!
The festival was founded in 2020, in the middle of the pandemic, by violinist Benedikt Wiedmann and pianist Lorenz Kellnhuber. The festival team also includes thoroughbred musicians Christoph Pickelmann and Stefan Shen.
For the fifth time, there will be a varied program over nine days in September at various venues in Regensburg. Under the motto “Hangover”, the four professional musicians have put together a great portfolio of musicians from September 14 to 22, 2024. From historical to modern, from the ordinary to the extraordinary, the chamber music festival plays in a wide variety of venues.
One of the festival’s particular aims is to combine regionality with internationality and to appeal to new audiences. In addition to top-class concerts, there are also exhibitions, an education program, a composition competition and various other collaborations.

Here is the program:

It starts with Camerata Goltz & Maximilian Hornung (cello) on Saturday, 14.09.2024 at 19.30 in the Aurelium in Lappersdorf. Maximilian Hornung has established himself as one of the leading cellists of his generation in recent years. As a soloist, he performs with renowned orchestras such as the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the Tonhalle Orchestra Zurich, and his chamber music partners include Anne-Sophie Mutter and Hélène Grimaud. Experience two different cello concertos together with the festival orchestra Camerata Goltz at the KMFR. On Sunday, 15.09.2024 the following is on offer: 11.00 am: “Pupa circi” – Marionettentheater Schwandorf meets KMFR in the Akademietheater
Interactive puppet and object theater with music for everyone aged 4 and over Duration approx. 35 minutes without intermission 6.00 pm Di Galitzyaner Klezmorim at the Jazzclub im Leeren Beutel
Klezmer music at its best – Di Galitzyaner Klezmorim from Krakow have won the European Music Prize, among others, and delight audiences with their virtuoso music.

Monday, 16.09.2024
Hisako Kamawura (piano) & Maximilian Hornung (cello) at 7.30 pm at Auktionshaus Keup
As part of the KMFR, the Regensburg composition competition on the annual theme of the Cultural Department 2024 “Katzenjammer” or, in the extension of the Regensburg Kamermusikfestival, “Hangover” will once again take place. Works are to be created that do justice to both concepts and are to be conceived as “concert hangovers” – i.e. as encore pieces after the end of a concert. Maximilian Hornung and Hisako Kamakura will present the 3 winning works of the composition competition alongside the cello sonata by Sergei Rachmaninoff.

Tuesday, 17.09.2024
at 7.30 pm Wine & Jazz: The wine concert at Keup Auction House
Sometimes a bottle of wine is like a symphony. Exciting, varied and appealing to all the senses. So couldn’t this complex taste be described musically, as usual, in text form? Pianist Lorenz Kellhuber addresses this question. He is also a wine lover and wants to realize a very special improvisation project with Wein am Limit.
In “Wine & Jazz” he sets four wines from the Wein am Limit portfolio to music together with sommelier Hendrik Thoma. And you can be there LIVE. The concert is divided into four acts. Each act consists of a tasting, an improvised jazz piece by Lorenz and a debriefing with Hendrik. To make things even more exciting, you won’t find out which wines will be tasted until you get there. One wine from the series will be available blind for both you and Lorenz. So what happens if one of the senses is lost? Included in the ticket price: Wines & snacks at 8 p.m. Cats & Breakkies at Jazzclub im Leeren Beutel
Drums, synthesizer, guitar and bass… that’s all the four musicians from Cats & Breakkies need to create danceable, yet complex and atmospheric soundscapes that are somewhere between techno club, science fiction soundtrack, house and psychedelic krautrock. Eclectic contemporary electronic music styles merge with the power of a live band. Since 2013, the four musicians of Cats & Breakkies have been developing their unique and unmistakable electronic live sound and have played over 300 shows in clubs and festivals across Europe. Following their debut album “Organic Electro” and their second album “Spectral”, the Berlin band will release their third studio album “New World” in spring 2024 and present it at the Regensburg 2024 Chamber Music Festival

Wednesday, 18.09.2024
FriedeMerz & Julius Windisch: Alle Bilder – ein Jazz Liederabend at 7.30 pm at M26 (Maximilianstr. 26)
Julius Windisch and Friede Merz perform music by Wolfgang Rihm *1952 and the Chinese composer Jia Chai *1987 to texts by Christine Lavant, among others, on their debut album aus einsamkeit herausgeschält. Merz’s agile and multi-faceted voice meets the clarity and depth of Windisch’s playing in the very different spaces opened up by the song cycles on this album. Both are at home in the European contemporary jazz scene and live in Berlin. Last year they were able to develop their program in a residency at Villa Waldberta on Lake Starnberg. The works they developed there and concepts expanded to include improvisation will also be performed at the KMFR. Thursday, September 19, 2024
at 6 p.m. at M26: Panel discussion (admission free)
The cultural sector is in crisis, and has been for quite some time. Where music education already blocks access for most groups of people or makes it considerably more difficult, Spotify and Eventim are giving freelance musicians the rest. Structures are rigid in institutions, but hardly exist on the free music market. What both have in common is an immense dependence on individuals – a petri dish for abuse of power, discrimination and violence. Not just for artists, but for everyone in the industry. And while so-called “serious music” is still comparatively well subsidized, the funding pots for everything that GEMA classifies as “light music” continue to shrink. Who is allowed to make/ experience/ enable which music, and at what price? And what opportunities lie here in awareness work, activism and interdisciplinary cultural events?

at 8 p.m. in the Thon Dittmer Palais courtyard: Sing-along concert
C. Orff: Carmina Burana (version for 2 pianos and percussion)
Lucia Boisserée (soprano), Mario Eckmüller (tenor), Marlo Honselmann (baritone)
Olena Vogel & Fruzsina Lugosi (piano), Regensburg Percussion (conductor: Antonino Secchia)
Cantemus Chor der Stadt Regensburg (rehearsal: Matthias Schlier)
Class 6a & 6b of the Clermont-Ferrand Middle School (rehearsed by Josef Erl)
Conductor: Christoph Schäfer
After the successful premiere with over 90 singers, our sing-along choir is taking on the next challenge – Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana in a chamber music setting for 2 pianos and 5 percussionists. You can register to sing along here. Friday, 20.09.2024
Barbican Quartet at 7.30 pm in the Spiegelsaal of the Government of the Upper Palatinate
The Barbican Quartet with Regensburg violist Christoph Slenczka won 1st prize at the ARD Music Competition 2022, among others. 2020 still performed as “Rising Stars” in the young talent series of the Regensburg Chamber Music Festival, we are looking forward to 2 concerts with different line-ups and with a program that leaves nothing to be desired for chamber music lovers…

Saturday, 21.09.2024
Family concert Carnival of the Animals in the Auditorium Thon Dittmer Palais at 10.30 and 12.15
Camille Saint-Saëns’ classic “Carnival of the Animals” is a well-known work performed in a chamber music setting, complemented by live drawings by Peter Engel.
An experience for the whole family from the age of 3. Children up to 10 years free. The event at 12.15 pm will be translated by a sign language interpreter and is suitable for deaf people. at 6 pm in the Neuhaussaal: Lorenz Kellhuber Standard Experience Quartet
Classical music is firmly anchored in his DNA, jazz taught him to stand on his own two feet and in free improvisation Lorenz Kellhuber repeatedly finds the boundless fulfillment of his musical vision, a contemporary chamber music. He plays with his own musical history and intuitively seeks out various stages of his musical development, ranging from the Baroque to the modern era.
Kellhuber also finds great inspiration in the Great American Songbook, whose pieces, also known as jazz standards, provide the perfect basis for his exuberant improvisations. The inventiveness, virtuosity and understanding of the history of jazz that Lorenz Kellhuber brings to these jazz standards can be experienced in his “Standard Experience” project, with which he performs in top-class and changing formations and has so far released the critically acclaimed album “The Brooklyn Session”. With Joe Sanders on bass and Jesse Simpson on drums, Kellhuber has now invited two of the most distinguished musicians on the American jazz scene. Together with Seamus Blake on saxophone, they celebrate fusion at the highest level and let the Great American Songbook shine in new splendor. Sunday, 22.09.2024
11.00 a.m. Next Generation in Concert at Haus der Musik (admission free)
Young musical talent is an important part of the chamber music festival.
The concert series “Next generation in concert” provides a stage for up-and-coming artists from jazz, classical music and other genres as part of the KMFR. The young musicians and composers can try out their skills, gain stage experience and receive guidance from international artists in workshops. at 6 p.m. Barbican Quartet in the Festsaal St. Marien Schulen
The Barbican Quartet with Regensburg violist Christoph Slenczka has won prizes such as 1st prize at the ARD Music Competition 2022. Having performed as “Rising Stars” in the Regensburg Chamber Music Festival’s young talent series in 2020, we are looking forward to seeing them again – after the concert on September 20, now with a larger line-up including Felix Mendelssohn-Batrtholdy’s string octet.

The festival proves how versatile chamber music can be. Bravo!