This year's Kissinger Sommer came to a brilliant end with a concert by the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg in the Max Littmann Hall on the evening of 21 July. The 38th edition of the festival, the programme of which was overseen for the third time by artistic director Alexander Steinbeis, presented the music city of Berlin in a multi-faceted panorama that spanned the brilliant entertainment culture as well as high art.
On 31 festival days with 57 concerts, the Kissinger Sommer was once again able to offer a prominent, diverse and varied programme. The festival's core brand includes guest appearances with top-class orchestras such as the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra, the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin, the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, the Konzerthausorchester Berlin and the Orchestra of the Komische Oper Berlin, the Berliner Barock Solisten and Stegreif - The Improvising Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Kammerakademie Potsdam and the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen. Together with world-class conductors and soloists, they provided enthusiastically received concert experiences at the Max Littmann Hall. The programme also included piano recitals, chamber concerts ranging from duos to larger ensembles, ambulatory concerts, the Kissinger LiederWerkstatt, which has just been praised by the FAZ for its enthusiasm for discovery, choral concerts, chanson programmes, an operetta performance, a revue, a dance matinee and jazzy open-air formats with the BigBand of the Deutsche Oper Berlin, among others. This year's Luitpold Prize by the Freidns Association was awarded to Timothy Ridout.
HOUSE VERBOT’, the Kissinger Sommer's first techno rave with hip Berlin DJs in the Kurtheater, also caused a sensation this year - a long night of hard beats for dance-hungry festival fans and completely new target groups. With its open, free and low-threshold programmes, the festival is firmly anchored in the town and brings music to Kissingen residents in their everyday lives and guests as well: Among other things with ten prelude concerts, which were played by members of the guest symphony orchestras and local Kissingen ensembles in public places, and with the third Kissingen ‘Symphonic Mob’, a large play-along orchestra in which over 700 amateur musicians and members of the BBC Symphony Orchestra played music together open air in the Kurgarten under the direction of Sakari Oramo.
In addition to numerous radio broadcasts on the BR Klassik and Deutschlandfunk programmes, four of the festival's concerts were also available as live video streams on the internet - as part of the ‘Healthy with Music’ (Gesund mit Musik) music education project, which is transporting the analogue concert experience digitally to people who can no longer attend concerts themselves for the third time: With live streams in partner facilities from the healthcare sector, which also offer a thematically appropriate supporting programme on site. The concerts will also be available as video-on-demand for 3 to 6 months on the website www.gesund-mit-musik.de. The Kissinger Sommer would like to take this opportunity to thank the Gerlind and Ernst Denert Foundation, the Beisheim Foundation and the Federal Ministry of Health for their generous support.
Quotes
Dr Dirk Vogel, Lord Mayor:
‘With his annual theme ‘I still have a suitcase in ... ’ and a fantastic Berlin programme, artistic director Alexander Steinbeis has rebuilt the historic bridge between the capital and the spa town. At the same time, the festival is now firmly anchored in the city society and a younger audience with free events and new ideas such as the rave in the Kurtheater. Keep up the good work!’
Dorothee Bär, Chairwoman of the Board of Trustees, Member of the German parliament, Ebelsbach/Berlin:
‘This year's motto ‘I still have a suitcase in ...’ is of course especially true for me as a part-time Berliner. That's why it was a great pleasure for me to be able to experience the capital's wonderful musical history in all its facets at Kissinger Sommer 2024 - from the 18th century to the 1920s to the present day, with fantastic concerts and great artists. I'm already looking forward to the programme for the next festival!’
Alexander Steinbeis, Artistic Director:
I am extremely pleased that the Kissinger Sommer's programme has been so popular with audiences: in 2024, we were able to surpass last year's record result once again. I am particularly happy that the festival is increasingly developing as a top-class cultural venue that enjoys a brilliant reputation not only among concert guests, but also among numerous world-class artists. They all like to come back again and again. This is the best incentive for the coming years and the further development of our international music festival!’
Numbers and Acknowledgements
With the sale of over 22,000 concert tickets and an 83 per cent occupancy rate, Kissinger Sommer 2024 was able to achieve another record year, far surpassing the previous year and the festivals before Corona. More than 5,000 people also took advantage of the free offers on site; the free streaming offers of the Kissinger Sommer on YouTube had also been accessed over 23,000 times via the various platforms by the end of the festival.
This is a sign of the great need for low-threshold events, and it proves how important and necessary it is to get new target groups interested in culture, to make the community-building experience of music accessible to everyone - and to fulfil this social responsibility, especially as a music festival. This broad and socially significant commitment was, is and will not be possible without a great deal of support. The Kissinger Sommer would therefore like to express its sincere thanks for the generous contributions of the town of Bad Kissingen as the festival's sponsor and its equally generous partners and sponsors, above all the Free State of Bavaria, the County of Lower Franconia, the District of Bad Kissingen, Sparkasse Bad Kissingen, the company Otto Ettari, Stadtwerke Bad Kissingen, the Anton and Katharina Schick Foundation, Spielbank Bad Kissingen, the companies Laboklin, DT&Shop, the Schick Group, the Saale-Zeitung, KS Raumpflege and the numerous other supporters from business and the media as well as, in particular, the Friends' Association and the many private donors.
The next Kissinger Sommer is scheduled to take place from 20 June to 20 July 2025.