LIEDFEST BERLIN-OXFORD: 19-21 November 2021

An exciting new Festival launches in Berlin this weekend. The LiedFest Berlin-Oxford is a new collaboration between Oxford Lieder and the Internationale Liedkonzerte Berlin, presenting a three-day mini-festival in the Kühlhaus Berlin. This extraordinary space was once an ice factory – and Europe's largest cold-storage unit! – and has now been converted into an innovative arts and events centre that will host five recitals and two illustrated lectures, with artists including Gerd Amelung(piano), Axel Bauni (piano), Martin Häßler (bass-baritone), Dietrich Henschel (baritone), Caitlin Hulcup (mezzo-soprano), Sholto Kynoch (piano), Philip Matthman (soprano), Götz Payer (piano), Jonathan Stone (violin) and Sarah Wegener (soprano).

The LiedFest Berlin-Oxford is jointly curated by Oxford Lieder's Artistic Director, the pianist Sholto Kynoch, and the founder of the Liedkonzerte Berlin, world-renowned baritone Dietrich Henschel. Building on their own friendship and collaboration, they aim to establish a Festival that is a bridge between two song-loving institutions, in solidarity against the obstacles caused by both Brexit and the pandemic.

The lecture-recitals are also presented in collaboration with the University of Oxford and the Universität der Kunste Berlin, discussing English visitors to Berlin in the 1920/30s and their perception of the musical scene they encountered, as well as Mendelssohn's celebrity status in the UK and how the Mendelssohn archive eventually came to be divided between Berlin and Oxford. Several of the concerts will be recorded for broadcast by Deutschlandfunk Kultur.

Full details at www.liedfest.com.