The Liedakademie with 12 young singers and pianists presented itself to the festival audience several times. The dense programme was both the highlight and conclusion of the 2022/23 fellowship year.

Under the deliberately playful title "Herz-Lose" and "Glücks-Lose" they performed two Liedakademie concerts in which, curated by Academy pianist Elitsa Desseva, they dealt with the inexhaustible theme of love - both in its romantic and happy manifestations and with a view to the disillusioning, rather difficult moments of a couple's relationship.

In a workshop with Thomas Hampson and the composer Jörg Widmann, to whom a festival focus was dedicated, the baritones and pianists of the Liedakademie studied Widmann's forty-minute song cycle "Das heiße Herz" (2013/2015) and performed it in the third Liedakademie concert on the eve of Widmann's 50th birthday.

In the public master classes with Thomas Hampson, the artists of the Liedakademie worked on musicality, technique and expressiveness. The audience was allowed to look over their shoulders and gain exciting insights into the work of one of the great songwriters of our time.