Happy holidays

Dear colleagues & friends

Another eventful and turbulent year is drawing to a close. Old and new crises, more or less unforeseen challenges, urgent topics and questions are hitting the world at a seemingly unprecedented speed. Of course, these developments do not stop at the cultural sector, even if we would actually prefer to focus on the good, the true and the beautiful. At the moment, it is the planned cuts to culture at federal, state and local levels that are causing us and many of our partners concern, but the wars in the Middle East and even closer to home are also having an impact on our work. It was with great regret that we had to cancel a tour with the Galilee Chamber Orchestra, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider and Saleem Ashkar in the summer.

This makes it all the more important for us to continue to actively work together with our many international partners towards a better world, to face the many challenges creatively and with good humour, and to do our part to ensure that art and music can freely unfold their potential for democratic, open and diverse societies and reveal their unifying power as often as possible.

This is another reason why we can look back on many enriching and great concerts, connections and events in our anniversary year and look forward to 2025 with energy and joy! Before we take a short holiday, we would like to take this opportunity to wish you a happy and peaceful festive season and, of course, a happy new year! It may not be any easier than 2024 was, but we would like to continue working with you to ensure that there is a chance for improvement.

Let’s stay healthy and optimistic!

Andreas Richter, Andrea Kerner, Michael Sauter, Ina Holthaus, Daniela Gast, Raphael Reher, Capucine Valois & Benjamin Kaiser

Our office will not be staffed between 23 December 2024 and 6 January 2025.