Echternach Music Festival
Encyclopedia
Echternach
Echternach is a commune with city status in the canton of Echternach, which is part of the district of Grevenmacher, in eastern Luxembourg. Echternach lies near the border with Germany, and is the oldest town in Luxembourg....
in the east of Luxembourg
Luxembourg
Luxembourg , officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg , is a landlocked country in western Europe, bordered by Belgium, France, and Germany. It has two principal regions: the Oesling in the North as part of the Ardennes massif, and the Gutland in the south...
. In addition to classical music, modern compositions are performed in the 18th century basilica of St Willibrord and in the church of St Peter and Paul. Since 2008, there has also been a jazz festival held in September and October. Over the years, renowned international artists such as Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin
Yehudi Menuhin, Baron Menuhin, OM, KBE was a Russian Jewish American violinist and conductor who spent most of his performing career in the United Kingdom. He was born to Russian Jewish parents in the United States, but became a citizen of Switzerland in 1970, and of the United Kingdom in 1985...
, Gidon Kremer
Gidon Kremer
Gidon Kremer is a Latvian violinist and conductor. In 1980 he left the USSR and settled in Germany.-Biography:Kremer was born in Riga to parents of German-Jewish and Latvian-Swedish origins. He began playing the violin at the age of four, receiving instruction from his father and his grandfather,...
, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Maurice André
Maurice André
Maurice André is a French trumpeter, active in the classical music field.-Biography:He is a classical virtuoso trumpeter, born in Alès, France in the Cévennes into a mining family. His father was an amateur musician....
, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau
Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau is a retired German lyric baritone and conductor of classical music, one of the most famous lieder performers of the post-war period and "one of the supreme vocal artists of the 20th century"...
, Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma
Yo-Yo Ma is an American cellist, virtuoso, and orchestral composer. He has received multiple Grammy Awards, the National Medal of Arts in 2001 and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011...
, Bobby McFerrin
Bobby McFerrin
Robert "Bobby" McFerrin, Jr. is an American vocalist and conductor. He is best known for his 1988 hit song "Don't Worry, Be Happy". He is a ten-time Grammy Award winner.-Life:...
or Jordi Savall
Jordi Savall
Jordi Savall i Bernadet is a Catalan viol player, conductor and composer. He has been one of the major figures in the field of Western early music since the 1970s, largely responsible for bringing the viol back to life on the stage...
have played alongside young talent from Luxembourg and abroad. Musically speaking the Festival ranges from medieval and classic music to jazz and world music.
History
Two Luxembourg music lovers, Georges Calteux and Jean Kraft were inspired to orgainize concerts in the Echternach Basilica after attending a concert in an abbatial church in Spain. Their dream was realized in 1975, attracting support from the pianist Cyprien KatsarisCyprien Katsaris
Cyprien Katsaris is a French-Cypriot pianist, teacher and composer. He was born on 5 May 1951, in Marseilles, France.-Biography:Katsaris first began to play the piano when he was four, in Cameroon where he grew up...
who became artistic director of the festival for over 30 years. From 1985, Adrien Meisch, a former Luxembourg ambassador, was the festival's enthusiastic chairman. In 2007, Georges Santer, Luxembourg's ambassador in Paris, was elected as chair while Meisch remained honorary president.
In 2008, Alexander Mullenbach
Alexander Mullenbach
Alexander Mullenbach is a Luxembourg pianist, composer and conductor. Since 2002, he has been director of the International Summer Academy at the Mozarteum in Salzburg.-Career:...
replaced Cyprien Katsaris as artistic director for the classical programme, while Gast Waltzing
Gast Waltzing
Gaston Waltzing is a Luxembourg trumpeter and composer. He has created several jazz bands including Largo and the Luxembourg National Jazz Orchestra and has composed music for films and television programmes as well as operas combining classical music with jazz and rock.-Biography:Born in...
became artistic director for the jazz festival held in September and October. The same year, a modern concert hall at the Trifolion, a new culture and conference center, was added to the venues.