Programme & Tickets

Five baritones from the current class at the Liedakademie are focusing on a major contemporary German-language song cycle: Together with Thomas Hampson, they are rehearsing Jörg Widmann’s approximately forty-minute cycle “Das heiße Herz” (2013/2015). In a public workshop with the composer, they will further refine their interpretation before performing the entire work as an interpretive “pasticcio.” The eight songs, set to poems by various 19th- and 20th-century poets, are considered a true tour de force among art song singers: they are peppered with allusions to earlier works of the Romantic and early Modern periods, particularly Robert Schumann’s art songs. The challenge for the young singers is immense: while the expressive tone of the story of love and disappointment oscillates between passionate emphasis and piquant irony, the composer strives for lightning-fast shifts in harmonic structures, rhythmic movement, and timbre. Wide vocal ranges and equally extreme dynamic contrasts create intense musical tension. But that’s not all: a wealth of vocal expressive means is required, ranging from full-voiced singing to declamatory recitative, with the composer having meticulously marked the musical notation. Singing is also permitted from the piano bench. At one point, two voices unite in a sweet duet in thirds …

Event with no intermission

In addition to the workshop, the current class of scholarship recipients at the Liedakademie—comprising 12 young singers and pianists—will perform for the festival audience on several occasions. With the Liedakademie Pass for €70, you’ll have access to all Liedakademie events. Available through our phone ticket service and in our online store.

Admission to the Liedakademie's events is free for college students, apprentices, and high school students.

To all events of the Liedakademie at the Liedfestival.