Heidelberger Frühling

Avi Avital believes that not remembering a concert is a good sign. Because then he was completely immersed in the moment. The famous mandolinist tells us what he likes so much about his instrument and which animal it reminds him of in the podcast for the journey home.

To the festival concert

Angela Hewitt loves to throw herself into the fray after her performance. For her, music is a celebration of friendship, which is why the Canadian pianist also wants to get to know the people behind the composers' names. In this episode of "Nachhause gehen mit...", Hewitt tells us why her "friendship" with Johann Sebastian Bach is particularly dear to her, why she used to be more exhausted than she is today and how her childhood in Ottawa shaped her.

To the festival concert with Angela Hewitt

Who am I? Festival artist Hugo Ticciati asks himself this question at every concert. On stage with his ensemble O/Modernt, he undertakes journeys of self-discovery. To do so, he combines styles and spiritual ideas to create a great togetherness. In the podcast for the way home, he talks about buzzing excitement, cosmic energy and vulnerability.

To the concerts with Hugo Ticciati

She is a gut person and plays best when her head takes a break, says cellist Julia Hagen. Another feel-good factor that is often underestimated: the concert venue. Julia Hagen reveals in the podcast why Heidelberg is a good venue.

To the festival concert with Julia Hagen

The concert is over. Applause! And now? Pianist Fabian Müller tells what happens after his festival performance. About time that stands still, the rush afterwards and the unifying power of music.

First broadcast: March 31, 2022

To the festival concerts with Fabian Müller

Pianist Igor Levit reveals what moves him after his festival performance: about everyday life as a concert pianist, letting go on stage and evenings that end best when you're not alone.

First broadcast: March 19, 2023

To the festival concerts with Igor Levit

At best, he doesn't think about anything in concert, says the pianist in the podcast. But how does that work? Lukas Sternath philosophizes about the magic of unavailability in music on the way home.

First broadcast: March 23, 2025

To the festival concerts with Lukas Sternath

Dream worlds, flirtations and brutality - Karol Szymanowski's first violin concerto contains all these sensations. In this episode of "Genau jetzt", violinist Lisa Batiashvili reveals why she hears a "Secret Love Letter" in it and what makes Szymanowski the "great-grandfather of film music". Host Thilo Braun would like to know whether this work could be a symbol of what modernity does to people.
To the concert

Is the recorder a day or a night instrument? In the podcast, recorder player Maurice Steger reflects on his "distanceless" instrument and the indescribable state after a concert. And then Maurice Steger gives us a bedtime treat on the way home.

Oceanic, glacial, colossal: Sergei Prokofiev's 2nd Piano Concerto seduces with big words. Some even find it unplayable. Not so Igor Levit, whom the piece has accompanied since his youth. In Heidelberg, he performs it in front of an audience for the first time after a ten-year break. In conversation with Maria Gnann, he reveals what he considers to be the golden point of the work, when a volcano erupts - and along the way, erotic shivers, a narrating grandfather and gnomes also appear.

-> Igor Levit's concerts

Sarah Willis can't help it: when she hears Cuban music, she has to dance. With her Sarahbanda, the horn player shows what happens when mambo meets Mozart. In the podcast, she talks about wild bus rides, her love of rhythm and reveals which vehicle she uses to get home in Berlin.

-> Sarah Willis's concert

The French harpist Xavier de Maistre is a night person. He can concentrate well in the dark, practise, do sport - especially when the adrenaline from the concert is still flowing through his veins. In the podcast, he explains why mistakes don't matter and what the most difficult thing about his job is.

-> Xavier de Maistre's concert

Christoph Sietzen drums his way to Heidelberg to play the audience into a trance: with the ensemble MOTUS Percussion and the percussion classic "Drumming" by Steve Reich. In the podcast, he shows how difficult it is to layer the rhythmic patterns on top of each other. And reveals why bongos are really sensitive. Host Thilo Braun fantasizes about a dancing chameleon.

-> Christoph Sietzen's concerts

The title alone gives the game away: Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson's "Blue/s Forms" wander between smoky blues, colorful splendor and bluesy melancholy. The work for solo violin inspires violinist Augustin Hadelich and host Maria Gnann to create a lush flood of images in this episode of "Genau Jetzt": magical hourglasses à la Harry Potter, ghostly fog, Italian summer heat and tongue-in-cheek pizzicati - the two discover all this and much more in a masterpiece that combines joie de vivre and sadness as well as jazz and classical tradition.

-> Augustin Hadelich's concert

Like Dmitri Shostakovich, Anastasia Kobekina was born in Russia. Does that play a role when she plays his 1st Cello Concerto as a soloist? The work was created in 1959, shortly after Stalin's death. Anastasia Kobekina and host Thilo Braun explain how the regime of terror can be felt in music. They talk about the nervousness of the sounds that pervades the cello concerto like death panic, detect hidden messages and puzzle over why Shostakovich quotes Stalin's favorite song at the end.

-> Anastasia Kobekina's concerts

What pizza is to Italy, this piece is to the organ - a world-famous, unmistakable "signature dish". In this episode "Genau jetzt", soloist Sebastian Küchler-Blessing and host Maria Gnann take a close look at the ingredients of the baroque masterpiece, raving about its overwhelming sonority, eloquent music and virtuoso pedal solos. You'll also find out what organ playing has in common with extreme sports - and why it's possible that the Toccata wasn't written by Bach at all...?

-> Sebastian Küchler-Blessing's concert