Violinist

A singular work with a distinctive character – a work that focuses on one of the most important myths of Greek antiquity: The "Medea" melodrama by Georg Anton Benda, a composer and instrumental virtuoso from Bohemia who worked in the Gotha court orchestra under Frederick III of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, impresses with its immediate expressive intensity and the compelling portrayal of multifaceted emotional and intellectual worlds. In the 18th century, the term "melodrama" referred to a form that was apparently avant-garde enough for its time to impress even Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: It is a theatrical piece with musical accompaniment, but with recitations instead of singing. When Medea's voice is heard, her schizophrenic monologue reveals her horrific and gruesome fate: "Here I lie and beg for vengeance on Jason's head!" cries Medea, the forsaken one. Jason, the father of her children, whom she once loved so passionately and who only attained power and dominion through her strength, has cast her out for another woman. But Medea hates as passionately as she loves. Her revenge not only brings death to King Jason and Queen Creusa, but also turns her into the murderer of her own children. How can a loving mother commit such atrocities? What inner turmoil rages within Medea? For millennia, questions like these have made the ancient tragedy, as exemplified by Euripides, an epochal subject for the theater.

EPSG:4326

MEDEA – Ekhof Festival – Barock ImPuls

Schloss Friedenstein Gotha

MEDEA – Baroque Impulse

Landestheater Eisenach

A friendship developed between Joseph Joachim, the celebrated violinist, and Johannes Brahms, the quintessential composer, characterized by both artistic admiration and critical tension. Joachim, immediately captivated by Brahms's music, soon became his most important confidant and interpreter. Their letters reveal a complex interplay of admiration, loyalty, and sometimes wounded pride—a delicate web of mutual respect and high expectations. However, from 1884 onward, the friendship between Johannes Brahms and Joseph Joachim was no longer as untroubled as in its early years, for Brahms had sided with Joachim's wife in their divorce proceedings, and since then, the once warm relationship had cooled—marked by expressions and gestures of reserve, coupled with the quiet pride of two artists. Now, however, Brahms's "Double Concerto" for violin and cello was intended to be a sign of reconciliation—a musical dialogue that sought to bridge the gap between them.

JOACHIM, BRAHMS & HAYDN – Reconciliation and Passion

Kulturhaus Gotha

The Thuringia Philharmonic Orchestra Gotha-Eisenach is performing.

Free concert by the district administrator in the church in Altenbergen – admission free → donations welcome

Kloster St. Gabriel

The subject of "nature" or "landscape" is frequently used in music as a reflection of the external world, but also as an expression of inner feelings. Composers draw on the sounds, rhythms, and moods provided by nature to make images, atmospheres, or specific emotions audible. In his Sixth Symphony, the "Pastoral," Ludwig van Beethoven depicts a rural idyll with unprecedented vividness: the babbling of the brook, the call of the cuckoo, or the thunder of the storm are not ends in themselves, but rather contribute to a higher level of expression that guarantees the formal rigor and meaningfulness of the symphony. In his "Scottish Fantasy" for solo violin, Max Bruch achieves an atmospheric tone painting full of local color through the use of Scottish folk songs, inspired by the novels of Sir Walter Scott, even though he never actually set foot in Scotland. A similar subtle connection between nature and emotion can be found in Frederick Delius's "On Hearing the First Cuckoo in Spring": Here, the call of the cuckoo becomes the initial inspiration, unfolding a delicate, impressionistic soundscape. Delius eschews programmatic effects in the classical sense, allowing the music to grow organically from moods, colors, and melodic suggestions, so that nature is not merely observed but poetically experienced. As with Beethoven and Bruch, nature here becomes a medium that transcends mere imitation and reveals inner resonances. This demonstrates that landscape painting in music is always more than mere tone painting: It connects external impressions with inner feeling and opens a direct path to moods that words often cannot express.

DELIUS, BRUCH & BEETHOVEN – In Nature

Heroic sounds and heartfelt dramas – this is opera at its finest! Immerse yourself in the realm of otherworldly sounds and enjoy the unique sonic magic of the French composer Georges Bizet – 2025 marks the 150th anniversary of his death! Georges Bizet occupies a central position in opera history as a pioneer of musical realism. With his opera "Carmen," in particular, he created a work distinguished by its innovative compositional techniques, dramatic coherence, and psychological depth. In "Carmen," Bizet combined elements of the French opéra comique with a new kind of dramatic intensity, breaking down traditional structures and using musical leitmotifs to deepen the characters' personalities and the plot. The folkloristic elements – especially the Spanish musical language – served less to exoticize the work, but were primarily embedded as a stylistic device within the dramatic plot. Bizet's orchestration has always impressed with its colorfulness and expressiveness, while the vocal parts displayed a previously unusual combination of lyrical melodies and realistic declamation.

GREAT OPERA GALA – Homage to Georges Bizet

State Theatre Eisenach

Heroic sounds and heartfelt dramas – this is opera at its finest! Immerse yourself in the realm of otherworldly sounds and enjoy the unique sonic magic of the French composer Georges Bizet – 2025 marks the 150th anniversary of his death! Georges Bizet occupies a central position in opera history as a pioneer of musical realism. With his opera "Carmen," in particular, he created a work distinguished by its innovative compositional techniques, dramatic coherence, and psychological depth. In "Carmen," Bizet combined elements of the French opéra comique with a new kind of dramatic intensity, breaking down traditional structures and using musical leitmotifs to deepen the characters' personalities and the plot.

B1 GREAT OPERA GALA – Homage to Georges Bizet

Gotha Cultural Center

Composition during the "Baroque" period was characterized by enormous artistic diversity, virtuoso ornamentation, and deep emotional spirituality – in hardly any region and era is this more evident than in Thuringia in the 17th and 18th centuries, which boasted a cornucopia of musical excellence. Thuringian Baroque music developed in a landscape rich in cultural influences, ecclesiastical power, and a strong bourgeois spirit. The "small states" provided the ideal stage for musical exchange: the ducal courts and royal residences, above all Gotha, Eisenach, and Weimar, were in lively competition with one another; they pushed their court composers to ever greater heights and demanded avant-garde excellence from them.

Baroque Impulse with Midori Seiler – Bach Festival Eisenach

St. George's Church Eisenach

Baroque Impulse with Midori Seiler

Ekhof Theater Gotha

Viva España! The Thuringia Philharmonic celebrates its final night at Friedenstein Castle! A summer evening full of music, elegance, and Mediterranean lightness. A feast of Spanish sounds awaits you in the atmospheric courtyard of Friedenstein Castle, Gotha – multifaceted, rhythmic, and captivating.

The Thüringen Philharmonie Gotha-Eisenach, under the direction of Russell Harris, presents a musical journey through sunny Spain: from fiery and intense classical works to lively dances and well-known pop hits. Look forward to arias from Georges Bizet's opera "Carmen," Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's "Capriccio espagnol," flamenco rhythms with castanet artist Friederike von Krosigk, Maurice Ravel's legendary "Boléro," and the seductively virtuosic "Zigeunerweisen" by Pablo de Sarasate with Alexei Barchevitch on solo violin.

Last Night – Friedenstein Philharmonic Proms

A unique work with an idiosyncratic character - a work that focuses on one of the most important myths of ancient Greece: The "Medea" melodrama by the Bohemian composer and instrumental virtuoso Georg Anton Benda, who worked in the Gotha court orchestra under Frederick III of Saxe-Gotha-Altenburg, impresses with its immediate intensity of expression and the vivid representation of complex worlds of feelings and thoughts. No less a figure than Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was fascinated by this "drama mixed with music" when he experienced it in person in Mannheim in 1778. "We attended two performances of Benda's Medea with great pleasure. Nothing has ever impressed me more! The combination of prose and music is extremely pleasing. Benda is one of my favorite composers." This is what the young Mozart wrote to his father Leopold immediately after the overwhelming performance. In the 18th century, the term “melodrama” was used to describe a form that was apparently avant-garde enough for the time to impress even the genius of the young Wolfgang: a play with musical accompaniment, but with recitations instead of singing.

Ekhof Festival 2024: “medea” Premiere – As Part Of: Golden Autumn

Ekhof Theatre Gotha

Puppet theatre with the Baroque Orchestra of the Thuringia Philharmonic Gotha-Eisenach – Ekhof Festival 2024

EKHOF-FESTIVAL 2024 – The Servant of Two Master

The concert "From Shadow to Light" draws on a fundamental aesthetic approach of the 17th century, in which both painting and music were strongly characterized by contrasts. The connection to Rembrandt's era arises not only from the temporal proximity of the selected composers, but also from a shared artistic idea: the deliberate creation of chiaroscuro effects.

Violinist

Alexej Barchevitch

Events

Upcoming events

Sep 5, 2026

FROM SHADOW INTO LIGHT – Ekhof Festival – Baroque Impulse · Thüringen Philharmonie Gotha-Eisenach

Past events

Jun 6, 2026

MEDEA – Ekhof Festival – Barock ImPuls · Thüringen Philharmonie Gotha-Eisenach

Jun 5, 2026

MEDEA – Baroque Impulse · Thüringen Philharmonie Gotha-Eisenach

Future and recently performed repertoire

Conductor in The Four Seasons by Vivaldi

Thüringen Philharmonie Gotha-Eisenach

Violin in Double Concerto by Brahms

Thüringen Philharmonie Gotha-Eisenach

Conductor in La Folia in D Minor by Vivaldi

Thüringen Philharmonie Gotha-Eisenach

Violin in Schottische Fantasie by Bruch

Thüringen Philharmonie Gotha-Eisenach

About

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