The little girl in the amphitheater. Gray gentlemen hurrying around smoking cigars. Beppo the street sweeper, who steadily does his work broom stroke by broom stroke. And last but not least, the tortoise Cassiopeia, whose slowness leads to a safe destination. Many people will certainly remember some of the characters from Michael Ende's famous novel "Momo".

Anyone who picks up the book again later will realize how much there is in the lines for adults too. The ideas surrounding the Heidelberger Frühling Musikfestival 2025 motto "Liberated Time" can hardly be illustrated as poetically and pointedly with any other story as with Michael Ende's tale "Momo", in which the girl helps people to save their own lives through her unique ability to listen.

The offers for young people at the Heidelberger Frühling Musikfestival 2025 are therefore based on the themes of the narrative. While Theater Heidelberg is also showing Momo as a play in winter 2024/25, the Musikfestival's offerings are dedicated to the material in a musical way, thus adding further sensory levels to the examination of the story.

We all know "gray gentlemen" in one form or another. The duties and desires of our busy lives can sometimes get in the way of our perception of each other or our inner freedom. Finding moments of serenity and presence in the moment, experiencing togetherness and letting go and wrapping ourselves up in the music or the pull of a game that lets us forget the here and now for a brief moment - that's what we wish for all of you, young and old - as part of our Musikfestival 2025.

(Introduction by Franziska Spohr, music education and project management Festivalcampus-Ensemble & re:start)