The exhibition with the theme “Across seven bridges” has evolved out of an arts' course with Dr. Monika Besser. The quaint little village of Tiefenthal has seven bridges. It was there and in the studio of the art therapist (Dr. Besser), that Susanne Brüning, Sebastian Krause, Torsten Fiedler, Matthias Lüsebrink and Jürgen Schneider did their studies and turned what they saw, into colour and form.
Within the Erfurt  Christophoruswerk, the project “Colourartists” offers people with disabilities and/or social impairments, the opportunity to continously and professionaly enhance their skills in painting, graphics, sculpture and other artisitic ways of expression. Different people test and develop their artistic creativity and are supported on their way in a focused manner. The project “Colourartists” helps to develop and strengthen their personality. Social contacts and encounters facilitate the understanding of people with and without disabilities

It's going to be loud, it's going to be good. That's the promise of the musicians and other artists who are involvd in the TEEINTUS Festival. They will mix up the established music scene and build a bridge that connects New York – where they get their inspiration – and Erfurt, where various artists and art forms will perform in the most unusual places.
The motto of the themed year 2012 “Music builds bridges” gives room for many interpretations and ideas. The here presented programme “Music builds bridges” will surprise and convince you, with more than 40 projects, their variety and quality.
The Erfurt Theatre and the City Museum, supported by the Society of Theatre and Music Friends, will unearth the history of the Erfurt Kruspe factory and their world-renowned musical instruments. The Erfurt municipal music school will organise – for the first time – a festival of youth school bands, in collaboration with the private MusicArt School, who will give of their professional expertise.
The Ilversgehofen community council from Erfurts' north will interpret the motto of this years' theme in a very direct way. It is there that a 200 metre-long bridge, the longest in town, exists. On one weekend in the summer, the bridge will be the stage for music and other art performances. This is supposed to draw attention to a precarious urban situation.
In the late summer, a forest in Erfurt will shine. The one-day event “you are forest” with a subsequent exhibition combines sound experiment, visualisation works and arts. It is meant to carry you away and to question listening and viewing habits of arts and nature.
Several projects will build a bridge between people with and without disabilities. “The little I – am – me” is the title of a musical project with children with and without disabilities.
The Erfurt socio-cultural initiative CULTURE GOES EUROPE will organise workshops over a period of several months, that will culminate in the performance of a musical.
Music as a bridge between history and society: The historical Faust figure will gaily stroll through Erfurt by means of a concertant and theatrical collage.  Martin Luther and the music of the Reformation period as well as the Jewish history and music of the city are also part of the programme of the culturally themed year.
The famous violinist Valery Oistrach as well as some of the best musicians from India and Germany, will play Jazz, classical Indian music, rock and Fusion together – will build the bridge of world music.
The city of Erfurt itself will cross a bridge with  the culturally themed year 2012. I will prove its courage to experiment. It will co-operate with non-established artists and the “free” scene. It will support scially engaged artistic associations and initiatives. It will create spaces for unconventional ideas and projects.

Within the framework of the opening event in the city based on the cultural theme of the year, young artists will show their works. They interpret and design their own view of the world and their feelings.
In the City Hall Gallery “etage 1”, children and teenagers who are part of the Erfurt Malschule, the IMAGO School of Art & Design and the Art Gallery Ines Qualek will present their work, which interprets the theme of the year in various and surprising ways.
“Music builds bridges” can be seen as an invitation to a better understanding between people. It is in that way that the picture worlds of the children should be interpreted.
Another exhibition in the City Hall Gallery “etage 2” exhibits photos and other works of children and teenagers, who are part of the integrated youth project “DeLight-House”. This project, which is supported by the Organisation of Artistic Youth Education of the Land Thueringen and has been running for 5 years, offers courses, performances and youth exchanges in Erfurt.
The exhibition will show fotos in different formats, graffitis, rap lyrics and T-shirts, that reflect the feelings of young people. The “DeLight-House” project is a mix of planned and spontaneous actions, that turn youth-time in Erfurt into prime-times. The  name of the organisation (De Lighthouse and Delighthouse) has been given its double-meaning on purpose.

Several partners (the educational collective BiKo, the Open work Erfurt and the radio station F.R.E.I.) are involved in this project, where they run 5 evenings of historically questioning songs. These events are recorded and consequently transmitted on radio, in two-hour shows.
Each one of the soirees deals with a different socio-political issue, like men and women, future and past, work and leisure time, intoxication, protest. Pieces from different periods  and from various genres are  played (pop, rock, techno, traditional music, church music, punk, etc.) and there will be an open discussion afterwards.
In 1981, the pop singer Nicole captured in 3 minutes the “Zeitgeist” of the then West Germany with her song: “Ein bisschen Frieden” (“A little peace”), although the peace protest movement was not impressed by it, at the time...It is the relationship between songs and their public perception that can open up a discussion about issues like time, systems and countries.

The series of events “Action-Erfurt-North” will bring the two art forms of dance and live music together, on 12 dates. On show will be productions with artists who are young, modern, trendy and open to experiment, coming from the dance and music scene of Erfurt and further afield.  
The “Action-Erfurt-North” offers yet another exciting way of encountering art. Artistic and cultural involvement enhances the richness of our lives, expresses basic values and thus becomes a part of our personal development.
The productions on show will be chosen from submissions and have to fit in with the cultural theme of the year “Music builds bridges”. Artistic director for the series of events is Erfurt based choreographer Ester Ambrosino.

A salon quartet from the Erfurt Salon Orchestra will interpret classical salon music in Erfurt nursing homes, the reasoning behind it being, to facilitate the participation of eldery people in the cultural live of the city.
Part of the repertoire played will be salon and character pieces of the 19th century, waltzes, polkas, marches, ragtimes, tangos, swing and film music by composers like Jacques Offenbach, Johann Strauß, Franz Lehar, Scott Joplin, Paul Lincke, Fritz Kreisler, Heitor Villa Lobos, Carlos Gardel, Cole Porter, Theo Mackeben, George Gershwin, Gerhard Winkler, Leroy Anderson, Astor Piazzola, Henry Mancini and others.
The Salon Orchestra is an ensemble of professional musicians who are part of the Erfurt Chamber Music Association. Salon music has been performed since 2010 and has since been received with great enthusiasm by the audiences and the media. The size of the ensemble varies and could range from a piano trio with a violin and cello to full orchestral size.

The film club at the Hirschlachufer will participate, with several foto exhibitions and various films focused on the cultural theme of the year. Gerhard Klein will present portraits of musicians: “Women in Jazz”, showing snap shots of female Jazz musicians at the international festivals in Moers and Viersen.
Hans Joachim Nowatzke will exhibit portraits of buskers, whose pictures he took on  trips to Erfurt, Rudolstadt, Jerusalem and New York.

Portraits of musicians in documentary films
Portraits of musicians in documentary films are dedicated to “Mama Africa – Miriam Makeba”, “Michel Petrucciani – Live against time” as well as Vladimir “Wyssozki – Thank you, for my life”. More music films will be shown in loose order, throughout the year  2012, some at the open-air cinema, during Summer 2012, in the  Krönbacken Cultural Courtyard and within the framework of the Inter-cultural week, in September 2012.

The Jewish past of Erfurt city seems to show signs of reappearing in the public conscience. The former Jewish quarter that stretches between the old and the small synagogue is being visited by tourists, with their guides. The self-employed arts' manageresses Eike Küstner and Karin Baier offer guided tours, exploring Jewish traces. They whisk us away into a historical, literary and musical world worth exploring. They tell stories about the daily Jewish life, the Rosh Hashana, Jom Kippur and Chanukka festivals. They are accompanied by a Klezmorim, a traditional musician of non-liturgical Jewish music. “Stories along the way” combine historical explanations, viewings of liturgical elements in pictures, literal texts and music from the ashkenasian non-liturgical Jewish tradition. Liturgical Jewish music and well-known folk songs like Hava Nagila and Tumbalaika will also be played.

The IMAGO School of arts and design, Erfurt and the teachers' orchestra “The Four Seasons” from Bad Bergzabern have been connected for some time now. They are planning a musical-literary soiree at the court of the Sun King under the title “Liselotte von der Pfalz in Versailles”, together. The joint project will connect people from different generations. It will bring musicians and singers from the Palatinate together with artists from Erfurt. An imaginary bridge will connect the regions, from  Bad Bergzabern to Erfurt. In musical terms, the bridge will attempt to connect the Baroque period with the now.
More than 300 people are involved in the preparation of the project and in the actual performance. Children, youths, and adults of the Erfurt School of art and design will immerse themselves in history. They will design the stage and organise the promotion of the event. The Erfurt Theatre will provide its studio stage on the night of the performance.

For more than 150 years high-class musical instruments that were highly regarded all over the world, were produced in Erfurt. The name “Kruspe” is still well-known in music circles and is connected to innovations in musical instrument manufacturing, like the creation of the double horn.
In the 19th century, the factory split into 2 independent branches: the “Ed. Kruse” factory that produced the whole spectrum of wind instruments and the “Carl Kruse” factory that specialised in wooden wind instruments (flutes, clarinets, etc.). Whilst the Carl Kruspe factory was sold in 1920, the Ed. Kruspe factory still exists de facto, but for the last 20 years, no longer in Erfurt.
Kruspe horns and trombones were – at least until the second world war – well known as high class products, not only in Europe, but also in the USA and in Japan. They've been used by soloists and wind instrumentalists of famous orchestras. The title “Kruspe System” is still found in the catalogues of renowned international horn manufacturers. Numerous instruments are still in use or in collections.
Aside from showing the history of the factory with the help of documents and pictures, the museum-style presentation of different models of instruments in different time periods will be the focus of this exhibition.
The Erfurt Theatre and some of its members own a whole selection of Kruspe instruments, horns, trombones, trumpets, Wagner-tubas and clarinets amongst them. Other exhibits are loans from Thuringian instrument manufacturers and from the inventories of renowned museums.
The exhibition is a combined project of the Erfurt Theatre and the Erfurt Municipal museum, supported by the Erfurt Association of Music and Theatre Friends.

The Erfurt fanfare orchestra has been in existence for over 60 years. It comprises of a wind orchestra, fanfares with a drum corps and a small show dance troupe. The orchestra has performed at countless events in Erfurt, Germany and abroad. The rooms of the fanfare club in Rosa Luxemburg street also host the centre for migration of Erfurt city and they have a club called “Rainbow”. A choir and a dance group cherish the musical traditions of their Russian homeland.
The fanfare orchestra and its dance troupe want to develop a joint programme with the Russian ensemble and perform it in public. Genadi Bykowsky, the musical director of the fanfare orchestra studied music in the former Soviet Union himself and he will work out the programme together with the “Rainbow” group.
Both ensembles understand the theme of the year “Music builds bridges” in two ways: first of all as an artistic programme that facilitates the creation of a bridge, but also as a piece of actual integration between people.

World-famous violinist Valery Oistrach will give a guest performance in Erfurts' St. Mary's Cathedral. The Orchestra Puellarum Pragensis under the direction of  Wolfgang Rögner will accompany him. On the programme will be the Concert for two violins in D minor by Johann Sebastian Bach, The Serenade for string orchestra in E minor by Antonin Dvorák and the well known „Le quattro Stagioni“ (“The four seasons”), string concerts op. 8, No. 1 – 4 by Antonio Vivaldi.
Valery Oistrach represents – after his grandfather David and his father Igor - the third generation of a legendary dynasty of violinists. He won numerous important international competitions and he is a well-liked guest performer with top orchestras across the world. The Orchestra Puellarum Pragensis is a unique chamber orchestra, whose members are all graduates of the Prague Music Conservatory. The string orchestra has given guest performances in almost every European country, in Thailand and Japan.
The Erfurt Lions Club Via Regia shows its engagement in the arts by supporting this concert. To stay in line with the cultural theme of the year 2012 “Music builds bridges”, the Lions club will try to connect people and the arts by means of sponsoring tickets for those who could not normally afford to go to the concert.

Jazz as an expression of contemporary music making builds bridges between traditional and new arts' genres. Jazz musicians from several continents will meet with all of their different musical roots and traditions and will give a series of concerts together.
In the first concert – Prolog - European modern music fuses with Indian tradition. Some of the best German and Indian musicians -all  experienced in Jazz, classicial Indian music, rock and fusion - will play together. The result will be an exciting top-level variety.
This Prolog will be followed by the main concert under the direction of the American keyboard player Kelvin Sholar. He will ensure that the event will turn into a bridge-building, cross-genre experience. Himself a visionary artist, he can see “that there are many bridges between the past, the present and the future.”
The Erfurt Dance Theatre will take part in this concert with a performance of the Igor Stravinsky ballets.
The series of concerts will finish with an Epilog of electro Jazz, at the end of the year.

The Erfurt municipal music school, the largest of its kind in Thuringen, and the private Erfurt MusicArt School present – for the first time – a band festival for young students' bands. They will build a bridge all across the city from the centre to the north and back.
The municipal music school teaches the friends of rock and pop music in the   Rock/Pop/Jazz, accordeon and dance faculties everything they need to know about setting up a band and conquering stages... They can practice in the newly-opened band-practice basement. E-guitar, bass guitar, drums, keyboards, saxophone and voice training are on offer, as well as Jazz double bass and Jazz – and Pop piano. Some of the students' bands have already made a name for themselves in the Erfurt music scene.
The MusicArt School in Erfurt is the only music school in Thuringen that specialises exclusively in the training of musicians in popular music. All popular instruments are  taught.
The concept includes the teaching of instruments and band training. Regular practice periods and concerts show the progress of the students and stimulate discussion about the music and communication within the groups.
The progress of all bands and candidates in question will be monitored until the spring 2012. The most interesting and best will be invited to the bandfestival in the courtyard of the municipal music school.
The students of both music schools will perform together in a united massive percussion orchestra. In that process of “bridge gapping”, the young musicians have the opportunity to get to know each other, to play music together and to stand on one stage together.
The intention of this first band festival of young musicians is to start a new tradition where these bands get a chance to meet on a regular basis, in the years to follow.

In 2017, the day when Martin Luther nailed his 95 Thesis about Faith onto the portal of the Wittenberg Palace Church, will be commemorated for the 500th time. The current Luther decade that has started in 2008, processes the “Reformation” theme with discussions and reflections and will put special emphasis on music, in 2012. “What a perfect opportunity to build bridges”, the music department of the Erfurt University thought. So, they invite you, to a guided tour around the city, in Luthers' footsteps.
A combination of music and other forms of artistic expression, like acting and painting, as well as scientific readings will form various stations on the tour, discovering the historical places that shaped Luthers' period in Erfurt along the way, like the Michaels' Church or the Augustinian Protestant Monastery.
In the Arts' Department, the Department for Protestant Religious Studies and the theatre group, the Music Department found partners for this project within their own university, of whom Luther once said: “The Erfurt University is my mother who I owe everything to.”

Since 1982 when it started in Paris, this music festival happens every year in more than 320 cities all over the world on the 21st June, summer solistice. The idea is to facilitate direct contact between different styles of music and to open up to a new audience. The events are public, without any admission fees and no commercial intentions. All participating musicians play without being paid for it.
Since 2010, Erfurt takes part in this world-wide event. Venues are the streets and squares of the historical inner city, like the Fish Market or the  Brühler Garden. Sunshine is guaranteed, say the musicians and the organisers, amongst whom we find Dr. Wolfgang Beese as well as other Erfurt artists and  music enthusiasts.
What's still needed are more musicians of all genres, from Jazz to Balcan to Classic and also from experimental genres. Applicants can contact the organisers directly under the address given below.

The TEENITUS FESTIVAL was born 4 years ago, inspired by the so-called “Do-it-yourself” scene in new York. The four founders of the festival, then still in their teens, felt a strong connection to the music, art and especially the constructive actionism of the New York “Noise-scene” of the 1980ies. In Erfurt, they found themselves in a similar situation to the one in New York. Consequently, the idea emerged to organise a festival that would connect musicians, artists, friends and everybody with an interest in experimental art in the area with existing contacts.
In the late summer of 2008, the first of these festivals happened in the Squatted House, in Erfurt. The second one followed in 2010, in the Old Party Building, in Erfurt. 2012 is meant to be the third edition of the festival.
The young arts' scene of Erfurt is hoping to find a platform here, where an exchange with international artists can happen. Music will be the main element of the event and hopefully, it will achieve its aim, which is to build a bridge between various artists and their different art forms but also between the two worlds of professional festival management and the not-for-profit do-it-yourself spirit.
It' going to be loud! It's going to be good!

Erfurt is colourful and fun! For one day, the city is meant to get infected with the drumming – fever virus... There are different parts to this event: workshops, drumcircles and a percussion or rhythm chain, that will wind its way through the city, for 4 kilometres. There will be workshops in West-African rhythms, samba rhythms, body percussion, percussion for children, youths and adults. The concept of a drumcircle is to connect the participants through the fun of drumming together. It facilitates a communal experience and invites the participants to enjoy the moment with the magic of the drums and other rhythm instruments. The percussion or rhythm chain will be formed along the No. 1 tram line, which connects the north with the south of the city. Every five to ten metres, a person with a drum or another rhythm instrument will be placed, so that  500 to 800 people will cover a distance of four kilometres. Last, but not least – professional and amateur artists will perform on stage at the Anger.

This joint project of the Erfurt Dance Theatre and the KuNo Erfurt (Culture in the North) combines percussion and dance in an artistically creative way. Various artists, half of them dancers and half of them percussionists with full drum sets, will create a visually and acoustically impressive network. Bridges between different art forms, between people, between the private and the public life of the city will be built.
The basis of this dance theatre performance is the percussion solo composition “Erfurt” by Marcus Horn, the soundtrack for a musical and emotional exploration of the city. The soundtrack, that has been further developed for this performance, will be combined with a dance choreography by Ester Ambrosio. It will be inspired by everyday situations.

Symphonic music for brass instruments will be played in a concert along with electronic music – a rather unusual combination. In that way, a gap is meant to be bridged between two music styles that are not usually heard togther. Classical sounds will mix with electronic sounds, blurring the boundaries between the two styles. The Erfurt Communal Harmony will be supported by the House and Electronic Live Performance team mod.civil from Leipzig. The two ensembles will perform both solo pieces and arrangements that combine the two styles. Popular titles, both classic and  modern will be arranged in a way that parts of the orchestra will be substituted or complimented by electronic voices. On the other hand, well-known pieces of the electro or techno scene will be interpreted by brass instruments. The concert will be supplemented with the use of audio-visual media. The use of a portable IOSONO sound system is planned in order to give the audience a totally new sound experience.

Representatives from the Erfurt graffiti arts' scene, dance clubs and dance schools plan a project that will combine artistic styles that normally would not go together. The basis for this project will be a concert with the “Crazy Sunglasses” band in a public square in Erfurt. Spray artists will create paintings simultaneaously on boards, during the concert. It will be interesting to see how the volume of the music, the speed at which it's played and the style affect the painting process. At the same time, the “Crazy Sunglasses” will explore new musical territory by integrating titles from the spraying scene, Hip-Hop in particular, into their programme. Erfurts' dance schools and clubs are invited to take part in the concert and to dance a “flash mob” in the squares of Erfurt. It is also intended to do a project with the students of the Department of Sound Installations of the Media Faculty from the Weimar Bauhaus University.

Erfurt is the place where Martin Luther spent his formative years. This culturally educational project examines in what places in Erfurt, reformation and metamorphosis have happened since the 15th century and also where these processes would be needed again, today. And all this is to happen during a guided tour through the city. Ten places, ten stations will act as a stage for 8 mins each. The art forms used will be music and acting. Choir compositions and miniature scenes will turn the ten stations in the city into places of reformation and metamorphosis. The tour is meant to build bridges: historical bridges between yesterday and today, visionary bridges for the future, bridges of communication between actors and audience, cultural bridges between the students and professional artists. The tour will be performed with young actors of the Erfurt protestant youth organisation and the choir and theatre group of the protestant Rats' Gymnasium. Artists and teachers will help to prepare the project.

On the 19th and 20th May: walking through Erfurt during the summer of 2012, you are very likely to meet two giant puppets on stilts. They will be accompanied by two different types of live music. One of the puppets will start in the south, the other in the north of the city. They will meet in the city centre and give a performance there, together. The music serves as a framework or announcement for the puppets, because you will hear them before you can see them. One puppet will be accompanied by classical, the other by electronic music. Each of the puppets will come with an entourage of five people as support and a group of musicians. They all have to work together in order to move in tune with the music as well as with the movement performance of the puppet. Youths and adults will be prepared for this musical street performance in workshops.

It was in 2010, that young arts enthusiasts got the open-air festival “Kunstrasen” off the ground, for the first time. They organised a mix of readings, exhibitions, theatre performances, bands, short films and music clips – in the middle of a wasteland in Erfurt. In 2012, there will be different events: regional young and upcoming bands of various styles will be performing. Experimenting is welcomed. Experience or perfectionism are not a condition. The music will be complemented by dance performances and a dance workshop. Artists can exhibit in specially designed “art boxes”. Short films of students of the Erfurt and Weimar universities will be projected onto house walls, as soon as it gets dark. And whilst the parents indulge in art, their children can be supervised doing artistic activities.

The drumming group “Kauriko” has met since 2009. Its participants are 10 mentally disbled adults who live in a residential care unit of the Christian Youth Village Organisation of Germany (CJD), in the Storchmühlenweg in Erfurt.
The aim of the project “Live is rhythm – rhythm is life” is to teach participants some pf the basic African rhythms of Nigeria, like the Yorub, Gha and Ashanti. Also part of it is to learn some of the dances that go with the rhythms. A story about the origins of drumming emerges and will be musically expressed. The project evolved in co-operation with two African men: Rico is blind himslf. Together with his carer Charles Abgbonon, they drum in the Erfurt Centre for migration, not far from the residential care unit. The idea behind the project is for the ten disabled people to learn how to use all their senses, especially to develop their sense of rhythm and consequently their self – esteem. The idea of African drumming as a primal symbol of communication in the world is meant to be spread with this project. Its public performance will hopefully build bridges between disabled and non disabled people, between migrants and locals.

If you follow the Magdeburger Allee, in the Ilversgehofen quarter of Erfurt, you will find a railway bridge that crosses over the rails of the Deutsche Bahn (German Railway). The inter-connecting effect of music with other arts is supposed to draw your attention to the precarious situation of this urban situation. Musical performances on both sides of the bridge are meant to symbolise that sound can “bridge the gap” between two urban areas – the Magdeburger Alle and the Jacobs' quarter. If possible, musicians are hoping to play in the trams that cross the bridge as well, so that the sound waves can reach the bridge from both sides. Cultural initiatives and young bands from the north of the city are involved in this project, as well as writers, graffiti artists, painters, photographers and the local community – of course. A temporary cafe under the railway bridge invites you to linger, to listen to some music and to chat.

Some time in the late summer of 2012, a forest near Erfurt is going to shine. The one- day-event “you are forest” includes an exhibition and combines sound experiments, visualisation works and sculpting. It will question listening and viewing habits of arts and nature. The audience is asked to walk through a forested area turned events' space that has a lot of light effects but only a few sheltering elements and experience that space with the help of various sounds. This will give the opportunity to see art from a different perspective and to discover new elements in it. The organisers are still looking for artists, performers and other creative people who would like to join in and turn themselves and the forest into something new and  strange and yet accessible. More information under youareforest.tumblr.com

The SOUND CONTAINER project wants to illuminate the relationship between public and private spaces, between “inner worlds” and the “outside world”. The “Outside”  is meant to reflect the public and social life. It is symbolised through a topical coloured outside structure and the installation of loudspeakers and monitors which invite people to come in to get to know the “inner life” of the container. This inner life of the container reveals itself in an artistic way through stories, visions and thoughts of people who move about in public spaces. At certain times, musicians, dancers and actors will perform musical dance and theatre scenes, directly in the container and with the theme “The inner world of public life”. Colour and spacial design of the container by artist Gunther Lerz. Dramaturgical design and performance ideas (prose, lyric, vocal recordings) by C. W. Olafson in co-operation with sound artist Matthias Neumann, the dancer Daniela Backhaus, the musician Andi Mzungu Schulze and a music performance with Lila Bungalow.

The musicians Falk Zenker (Guitar, Live-Electronics), Gert Anklam (Saxophone) and Volker Jaekel (Organ) will attempt a musical approach to Martin Luther and intend to build a bridge that will span 500 years. The Nu:n Ensemble is looking for musical approaches to the here and now that move people. They are inspired by Luthers' audacity in cracking open old torpors. The organ as a rich-sounding traditional church instrument will meet with the guitar, whose sound spectrum has been extended by electronic and “livelooping” - elements  that consequently will turn it into an equal partner. The melodical saxophone will act as a musical and spacial mediator between the organ and the guitar. The three musicians pick up on Luthers' chorals, but also on other music that would have inspired himself. Examples of this music are taken from his contemporaries Ludwig Senfl, Heinrich Finck and Josquin Desprez but also from Gregorian chants and German folk songs, that Luther would have turned into church hymns. The idea of these three musicians is to reflect on the historical music from a modern perspective. Therefore, they use their own compositions, blended with the freedom of improvisation with the aspiration of a common sound.

Filling stations can be found on the highways out of town. They are modern cathedrals of mobility. People stop here to fill up their cars, before they leave town. Others stop to buy cigarettes or a hot dog to get through the night. Erfurt and the world. A filling station at the Weimarische Street, on the way out of town will be transformed for one day: with music and dance and a local radio partner. A band will play in the shop. What can be heard live inside, will be transmitted to speakers on top of the pumps and can so be heard outside as pleasant background music. That day, the staff of the filling station will be replaced by dancers. They will help to refill cars, to wash windscreens, operate the cash registers and assist in any other way. The music from the filling station can also be heard on the radio, so that drivers and other listeners can hear it as well. Radio reporters will comment on the events of the day, interview people and generally examine the subject of “coming, going or staying” in the city.

Stimulated by the composition “Four Borchert songs for baritone and piano” by Jürgen Kupfer (1970), Gundula Hammer created four pictures using mixed techniques (watercolour and ink drawing), in 1997 “in order to express in pictures the moods that rose inside me whilst listening to the songs” (G. Hammer). Through repeated listening, looking and questioning, the specific approaches of different artists can be discussed as well as the connection between poetry, music and pictures. Focal point of the evening will be Wolfgang Borcherts' poems: „Ich möchte Leuchtturm sein“  (“I want to be a light house”), „Abschied“ (aus „Laterne, Nacht und Sterne“) (“Farewell” from the collection “Lantern, night and stars”) as well as „Versuch es“ (“Try it”) and „Gedicht“ (“Poem” from a posthumous collection of poems from the years 1940 -1945). Performing will be Gundula Hammer (artist), Roland Hartmann (baritone), Tanja Schubert (piano) and Jürgen Kupfer (composer).

The Erfurt Chamber Music Association would like to build bridges between Erfurt artists and Erfurts' various twin towns: Györ, Kalisz, Lille and Vilnius. Just like at the “Erfurt International” project, the Erfurt Chamber Music Association will be playing music together with artists from these twin towns. The plan is to give three or four concerts in the ballroom of the city hall, in the early autumn of 2012. Artists from the twin towns will be given the opportunity to get to know Erfurt and its people, to be surprised and to - hopefully - form new friendships with the help of music. On the other hand, the members of the Erfurt Chamber Music Association would very much appreciate the contact with other countries, mentalities and temperaments and possibly even to be invited to visit their twin towns, themselves. The project is meant to become a permanent part of Erfurts' cultural life and is not supposed to be restricted to 2012 only.

The meaning of music lies in the sound. Music that sounds right, is the right interpretation.The analysis of minor and major, scales and different rhythms has always been a challenge for music producers and consumers alike. To experience and grasp music both in a sensual and intellectual way – all-encompassing – will trigger emotions, stimulate the imagination and take the whole experience to a new level. The pulsing rhythm of music accompanies us throughout our life, until the end. It was with this realisation in mind, that the project “As old as a tree” was born. Children youths and retired people will work on a programme where music is the cross-generational element. Children from the Kindergarten on the  Raben hügel, youths from the youth houses „Fritzer“ und „Musik Fabrik Erfurt“ (Erfurt Music Factory) will present compositions that will be interpreted in different ways: instrumental ly, vocally and through movement. The retirement group will present music from various genres and periods of time that can be played together.

Over a period of 7 to 8 months, 30 to 40 children who visit the Erfurt special school “Am Andreasried” and pupils of one of Erfurts' primary schools will meet once a week. They will get to know the story “The little I – am – me” and work with it. From that work, a musical will be created and performed several times. The music will be composed, arranged and recorded by an Erfurt artist. The lyrics will be created by the children. Theatre and dance teachers along with opera singers will choreograph and rehearse the staging. The children will be looked after on an artistic and pedagogical level. The musical is based on the picture story book with the same name, by Mira Lobe. In a wonderful and childlike way, it tells the story of discovering your identity. A small  colourful animal lives happily and content until the day it is confronted with the question: “Who are you?”

The combination of instruments played in school bands can vary from school to school, as well as the musical abilities. Based on that reality, the idea “Mission filmmusic” was created. Children and youth from various schools will play together in one big orchestra. Music from films like “Mission Impossible”, “The Pirates of the Caribbean”, “Lion King” and many others will be played. The musicians will be supported by a choir, singers and teachers. The charitable “Music educates” society was founded in 2008. It offers children and youth, the opportunity to learn an instrument after school hours. All teachers are qualified musicians and classes are currently available in four gymnasiums and in one primary school, in Erfurt. Children and youth from a disadvantaged social background, who could normally not afford to go to private music classes are particularly supported by the society.

The Erfurt Music College will organise a multi-media event with the above title, where sound colours, sound formations and movement will all melt into one. Elements of classical and modern contemporary music will form the framework for these light compositions, which will be performed and interpreted through dance choreographies. Vocal compositions will provide dissonant and harmonic sounds. The total effect of the light atmosphere and these sound clusters will turn this event into a unique experience. Together with youths and professional artists from the areas of dance and music, as well as technicians, single elements will be worked out in workshops and consequently put together into a programme, which will be performed in the childrens' and youth theatre “The Schotte”.

“Faust” is automatically associated with Goethe. But Goethe was not the only one who dealt with the thematic figure of Faust. The oldest book found on Faust is about 425 years old. Faust has lived through more than 500 years of history during which about 20,000 versions of his story were written, apparently. This will provide enough material to fill a pleasant and entertaining evening with music, film, theatrical and satirical- cabarettistic elements, that Sebastian Krahnert (Director of the Erfurt Academic Orchestra) and Ulf Annel (Cabaret artist) will weave into a special collage.
According to Goethes' “Faust”: “Into the whole how all things blend, Each in the other working, living!” Main characer of the night is Georg Faust. And he is not only a product of the imagination, because Faust did live from 1480 – 1540 and spent time in university cities like Heidelberg, Wittenberg und Erfurt. In Erfurt, you can still find a little lane called Faustgä?chen (Faust lane) that reminds us of the magical bet Doctor Faust made with a student.

A grotesque play about pleasure, a plea for the art of living and against all restrictions will be produced. The venue is the City Hall Canteen, in the same building where the City Council holds its meetings and the City Administration has its seat. The canteen will be turned into a public space of lived democracy, where city administrative representatives and artists engage in a discussion about how to organise and finance an arts' festival and both parties' restricitions. A grotesque story about the reduction of materialistic and spiritual “goods” will be told. As the story unfolds, it is always the music that encourages the actors to keep going. The musician never seems to get tired to use music as a motivator. In the end it is this essential ingredient or the “musical heartbeat” that will turn the festival into a reality.

The “Klassik” Duo, the pianist  Natascha Trofimova and the flute player Yakov Geller are offering children and youths age-specifically designed and commented classical concerts. They will happen in the mornings, but outside the school building and they will include the whole class. The concerts will deal with different themes, one of them will be a programme with Jewish music, for example. In that way, the children and youths are meant to learn more about Jewish culture. Here, music functions as a bridge. Natascha Trofimova and Yakov Geller originally come from Belorussia and they have both trained at the Minsk Music College. As the “Klassik” Duo, they want to build a bridge of integration with Germany.

The city of Erfurt wants to present the variety of music and vocal arts in six of its districts. Six one-hour tours were designed where musical and artistic groups represent their respective districts. The programmes will be presented on open carts drawn by the historical KaterExpress engine of the Erfurt transport operator. Music played can vary wildly from music of the Luther period played on historical percussion instruments and performed in Erfurt's historical inner city to Hip-Hop and pantomine performed in the newly built estates of Rieth and Moskau square. The six tours will be chosen on the basis of a tender advertised for musicians and artists, beforehand. Internet voting and a jury will decide on the participants and their programmes. The tours will happen, one after another, on the same day and combined – hopefully – with a traditional festival.