Festival 2021 will be straightened out

"Musica Sacra International" reacts to pandemic again
The festival with the theme "Our Earth" will be rescheduled and will take place from May to October 2021

After the corona-related online edition of the "Musica Sacra International" festival in 2020, another premiere is to take place in 2021: A hybrid edition of the festival with a total of nine ensembles. Here, the concepts newly developed for the online edition are to be integrated into the already existing and proven components of "Musica Sacra International", so that a mixture of elements live on site and online on the net is created. Due to the pandemic, MODfestivals is taking a new approach: although the festival will open on the Whitsun weekend, it will not last until the Monday after Whitsun as usual, but will be staggered. After the opening on Whitsun, "Musica Sacra International" will take place on three weekends in July, August and October with evening concerts, ateliers, lectures, discussions and prayers at different venues.

Invited ensembles
The following ensembles are invited: Ensemble Zeker brings forgotten Jewish music closer to the audience. Ars Choralis Coeln is a group of female singers dedicated to performing medieval manuscripts from women's monasteries. Ensemble Agios specialises in the performance of Russian Christian Orthodox choral music. Renkei Hashimoto is one of the few masters in Germany of playing the shakuhachi, a Japanese bamboo flute used by Buddhist wandering monks. The Misafir Ensemble presents the Sufi tradition of Anatolia. The Abraham Geiger Kolleg Ensemble shows the facets of Jewish vocal music. Anubhab is a classical Indian music-dance formation of Hinduism. Jabulani presents traditional African-Caribbean gospel, and Rupert Huber's Spinario Ensemble practices the effect singing of animism. Eight ensembles come from Germany, one from Austria. Most of the ensembles have their roots in other countries.

Kick-off at Whitsun
A trilocal, multi-religious, hybrid opening concert with Renkei Hashimoto, Misafir and Ars Choralis Coeln is planned to kick off the festival at Pentecost. Three concerts will take place in parallel and worldwide: In Marktoberdorf, Beirut (Lebanon) and Buenos Aires (Argentina). The audience will be able to experience one performance live, the other two will be streamed on screen from the concert venues. The concert will be presented live and on site at the Bavarian Music Academy Marktoberdorf. Also live and via online stream will be ateliers on Buddhism and Islam on the opening weekend, as well as the broadcast of the ateliers from Argentina and Lebanon.

After the opening on Whitsun, three concert weekends will follow on 30/31 July 2021, as well as at the end of August and the beginning of October in Altenstadt, Kaufbeuren, Marktoberdorf and Memmingen, and in Augsburg. These will be accompanied by workshops, lectures, discussions and church services. Under the motto "Our Earth", an extraordinary variety of sacred music can be experienced. The concerts will take place live on site with spectators, if permitted, and at the same time can be seen worldwide via live stream on the internet.

Tolerance starts at school
The educational programme "Tolerance starts at School" will also be offered. For this purpose, a programme has been specially developed that meets the current pandemic requirements and still gives children and young people the opportunity to learn about the special features of the different world religions and cultures. For the first time, there will also be a "Path of Religions" through Marktoberdorf, where together with various religious communities and local religious representatives at four stations
with multi-religious prayers and songs to draw attention to the four elements of the earth.

Ars Choralis Coeln perform for Christianity at this year's festival opening on Pentecost.
Photo: Ars Choralis Coeln