“He is the Mozart of the 19th century, the brightest of musicians, who sees more clearly than others through the contradictions of our time and is the first to reconcile them.” Thus Robert Schumann described his friend and contemporary Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Pianist Elena Bashkirova, artistic director of Leipzig’s Mendelssohn-Festtage, has curated a two-day festival: in addition to works by Mozart, the program also includes the masterful Piano Trio by Felix’s sister Fanny Hensel and Aribert Reimann’s arrangement of Mendelssohn songs. Actress Martina Gedeck joins the extraordinary ensemble of musicians to read from Fanny Hensel’s letters.

Due to illness, Mojca Erdmann had to cancel her appearance in this concert. We are grateful to Juliane Banse for stepping in on short notice.