German Music

Listening to Bach's Christmas Oratorio at the Thomaskirche church in Leipzig, you absorb the music in the place where it was first performed. A Baroque concert in the Dresden Zwinger takes place on the festival ground of the Saxon electors and kings.
Musical events in Saxony are of great authenticity, combining art with architecture and landscape in a unique way. Listening to Bach's Christmas Oratorio at the Thomaskirche church in Leipzig, you absorb the music in the place where it was first performed. A Baroque concert in the Dresden Zwinger takes place on the festival ground of the Saxon electors and kings. An organ concert in the chapel of Torgau castle is held in the oldest Protestant church building in the world. Listening to a choral concert in a quarry in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains, you stand on the material of which the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin was built. And a musical collage in a mine tunnel in the Ore Mountains tells you what once made Saxony rich.

Saxons love music
They also have a talent for making excellent musical instruments. Violins of masters have been made in Vogtland "musical nook" at the south-western tip of Saxony for over 300 years. Wagner and Liszt composed n Bluthner grand pianos. Vogtland instrument makers have never been ones to sit by passively. Not long ago, working together with David Guardala, New York's most prominent saxophone maker, they developed the B&S saxophone. Branford Marsalis plays one every night on NBC's nightly sign off, while Bill Clinton practiced in the White House.

Craftsmanship symbol
Saxony is a symbol of centuries of craftsmanship and inventive genius. Silver and iron was already being mined in the old mountains as early as the 12th century. However, this did not make the miners but the aristocracy rich. The famous craft of wood carving was born of necessity and provided a modest income. Chance rather than necessity led to the discovery of porcelain. During experiments to create gold, a bi-product was created and dubbed "white gold" - it entered the history of Meissen from where it conquered the world. The combination of splendid performances in the most impressive settings and the unique Saxon landscape lure music lovers to countless internationally renowned events in Saxony. Brilliant composers such as Schumann, Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, Bach and Handel are an integral part of outstanding musical events, which are staged in famous venues like the Semper Opera in Dresden. Below is just a glimpse of some of the many events that take place in Saxony.