This year, we are once again performing a concert at the Monument to the Battle of the Nations with musical reflections on November 9. From Cain's murder of Abel in the Bible to today's military conflicts - violence is present. How can we negotiate in peace and prevent violence? An artistic search for clues.

The date of this concert was not chosen at random: November 9 is a day steeped in history. The republic was proclaimed on this day in 1918, whereupon Kaiser Wilhelm II fled into exile in the Netherlands. In 1936, the National Socialists tore down the bronze statue of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy in front of the Gewandhaus in Leipzig on this day. The mayor at the time, Carl Friedrich Goerdeler, resigned in protest. The atrocities committed by the SA and SS on November 9, 1938, when they set fire to synagogues and destroyed Jewish businesses throughout Germany in the so-called Reichsprogromnacht, were also abhorrent. But in addition to all the suffering, miracles also happened on November 9th, which went down in history as the day the border between the GDR and the FRG was opened in 1989 - triggered by peaceful protests in our home town of Leipzig - accompanied by shouts of "No violence!". In our concert, the question of the origins of violence, its effects and perhaps even its end will be examined more closely in the guise of a narrative and supported by the different perspectives of opposing composers from several centuries. The Monument to the Battle of the Nations with its resting warriors is thus staged in this concert as a memorial to peace. With improvisations on violin and grand piano, the choir will be complemented by exciting sound colors at this unusual location. But how much strength does it really take to engage with one another and to approach one another despite different points of view? Do we have to learn peace first? Using a concrete, sometimes quite humorous story by the writer Lea-Lina Oppermann, we want to show how understanding can succeed - or not.

We will perform choral works by Mendelssohn, Schütz, contemporary compositions by Runestad and Barber as well as improvisations.

Leipzig Chamber Choir
Samuel Seifert - violin
Lea-Lina Oppermann Texts
Andreas Reuter - conductor

Tickets via advance booking (Musikalienhandlung Oelsner or karten@leipziger-kammerchor.de) and Box Office.