Anticipated by many fans of early music: the SPAM - Spandau macht Alte Musik festival will take place from 21 February to 9 March 2025 under the motto ‘Update 25’.
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Top ensembles from Berlin's early music scene as well as other ensembles and soloists from all over Europe will be guests in Spandau.
Update 25
The festival motto ‘Update 25’ stands for works that were composed in the 25s of the past centuries: Felix Mendelssohn composed his octet in1825, Antonio Vivaldi's ‘Four Seasons’ and choral cantatas by Johann Sebastian Bach were first performed in 1725. In1625, Francesca Caccini became the first woman to compose an opera. Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina was born in1525, and 1325 is the year the Portuguese poet-king Dom Dinis died.
‘Update 25’ thus spans more than 700 years of European music history, as contemporary works are also part of the festival programme this time.
Programme:
The participating ensembles include:
- Continuum, the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin,
- the Lautten Compagney Berlin, the Capella de la Torre,
- the RIAS Chamber Choir,
- Ala Aurea,
- the Capricornus Consort Basel
- and the Ricercar Consort.
In addition, the cantores minores and the youth ensemble Alte Musik JAM, among others, also represent the next generation of musicians.
The festival has found a worthy venue in Spandau: The 14th-century St Nikolai Church is one of the most important sacred spaces in Berlin, and the Spandau Citadel has several excellently suited concert halls, which will be used alongside the museums to perform music from the Renaissance fortress' period of origin.
The artistic direction of the festival is once again in the hands of musicologist and presenter Bernhard Schrammek and gambist Heidi Gröger. Britta Richter, director of the Kulturhaus Spandau, is responsible for the organisation. The festival is organised by the FKS Freunde Kulturhaus Spandau e.V. in cooperation with the Kulturhaus Spandau, funded by the Lotto-Stiftung Berlin.
Additional information
Tickets are available online or at the Kulturhaus Spandau customer office from 9 September 2024. For music enthusiasts, a personal festival ticket for all events will be offered for the first time with the SPAMCard 100.
