11th International Organ Festival Waldkirch 2014
From Friday, June 27 to Sunday, June 29, the City of Waldkirch, together with many participants, organizes the 11th International Organ Festival in Waldkirch. This time, the partner country is Switzerland and the main topic is the company "Gebrüder Bruder", which was founded exactly 150 years ago. Therefore, artists of Switzerland will lend a special flair to the festival, while a demanding topic for specialists has been found, that can be deepened in conferences and expert discussions.
More than 150 organs from Germany and abroad
More than 150 organs from Germany and abroad – big ones and small ones – set the tone for three days in Waldkirch and convert the heart of the city into a huge open-air stage. Master pieces of the organ building art like barrel organs, concert organs and fairground organs, orchestrions and church organs enchant the listeners in the streets of the city and offer a nostalgic atmosphere: concerts, exhibitions, lectures, guided tours, open organ building ateliers, traditional museum festival ("Museumshock"), balladeers and story-tellers, prize draw for a hand-driven barrel, a nostalgic fairground and many other attractions give to the visitor the chance to plunge back into the past and bridge at the same time the gap between tradition and present showing the wide range of contemporary organ building art. Active organ players, not only from neighboring countries, but also from Japan, the USA, Belgium, Chile, Luxembourg and Great Britain will come to the Organ Festival of Waldkirch.
Connection of tradition and modernism
The Organ Festival of Waldkirch tries to connect (organ) tradition and modernism. On different stages all over the city of Waldkirch, various musical performances will take place. Numerous cooperations of different institutions such as schools, kindergartens, youth centers and organ builders will present their most recent projects. Events for and with schools and kindergartens will complement the program of the festival weekend.
Culinary delights
Culinary delights are waiting for the visitor at the traditional museum festival, in the ateliers of the organ builders and at the city festival of the different associations of Waldkirch.
Many local actors
The single actors of Waldkirch, like organ builders, patronage societies, friends of the organ, the organ foundation of Waldkirch, "organist cooks" and the Museum of Elztal ("Elztalmuseum": museum for organ construction and urban history) present themselves at the organ festival and sow the multiplicity and diversity of the organ scene of Waldkirch.