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The 2023 Musikfestival marked a new era in the festival’s history: it was the first of a total of five editions featuring pianist Igor Levit as co-artistic director alongside artistic director Thorsten Schmidt. Under the festival motto “Together” , 83 concerts took place at 25 venues over a four-week period from March 17 to April 15, 2023.
The festival has welcomed such distinguished artists as Asmik Grigorian, Kirill Gerstein, Vilde Frang, Renaud Capuçon, Jan Lisiecki, Nikolai Lugansky, Kian Soltani, Thomas Quasthoff, Antoine Tamestit, Abel Selaocoe, Peter Eötvös, and Veronika Eberle, as well as internationally renowned ensembles and orchestras such as the Gringolts Quartet, Cuarteto Casals, Quatuor Diotima, Collegium 1704, the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, the Manchester Collective, the Aurora Orchestra, and the B’Rock Orchestra.
For the first time in the festival's history, the Festivalcampus-Ensemble was formed—a dedicated ensemble of 22 young soloists that opened the Musikfestival and could be seen in various configurations throughout the city in the following weeks.
The 2023 Heidelberger Frühling Music Prize, sponsored by Heidelberg Materials, a founding partner of the Musikfestival, was awarded to percussionist Martin Grubinger. Since 2013, the award has honored individuals who have made substantial and lasting contributions to the promotion of classical music.
Shortly before the festival began, Heidelberger Frühling, together with the Rhein-Neckar-Zeitung and the Freundeskreis des Heidelberger Frühling e.V., launched a fundraiser in response to the devastating earthquake in Turkey and Syria in February. Heidelberger Frühling is donating the ticket proceeds from the festival concert on March 29—featuring singer Ibrahim Keivo, who hails from northeastern Syria, and the NDR Big Band—to “Aktion Deutschland Hilft” to benefit the earthquake victims and also collected additional donations for the alliance. This fundraising campaign was made possible by the Freundeskreis des Heidelberger Frühling e.V.’s sponsorship of the concert. A total of 16,536.18 euros was raised.
With “Ligeti 100”, “Melting Pot of Music,” the “Carte Blanche for...” and other program highlights, the 2023 edition focused on specific composers, musical themes, or concert concepts. The new podcast series „Genau jetzt“ as well as the series that was successfully launched at the last Musikfestival “Nachhause gehen mit...” served as educational content to complement the concert experience.
