The Ars Augusta e.V. society will be five years old on March 8th. In these five years a lot has been done to promote culture and international understanding. But that was just the beginning.
On February 5, 2017, we invited many music lovers to a salon concert at Augustastraße 6. Our neighbor Mrs. Renate Wiegand, who also lent us ten chairs for this concert, told us that salon concerts were a tradition even before we arrived on Augustastrasse. Another neighbor, also from Augustastraße, supported the initiative with another 10 chairs. We gathered all the chairs we had and treated ourselves to a concert for about 30-40 guests. At that time, the American tenor Stanley Jackson was our guest: together with the Belarusian pianist from the Gerhart Hauptmann Theater or Görlitz, Olga Dribas, they prepared a program with arias and spirituals for us. The large audience was enthusiastic.
At the next salon concert on March 5, the first musicians of the Lusatian Baroque Ensemble met: Susan Joseph from Görlitz, Szczepan Dembinski from Bad Fliensberg and Adam Rorat, then student at the Wrocław Music Academy. It was the first concert of the Polish-German formation for early music "The Lausitzer Barockensemble", which we founded here. And that's how it all started.
Eight of the friends of these concerts, mostly neighbors from Augustastraße, met here on March 8th and signed the statutes of the association. Statutory purpose of the non-profit association: cultural promotion and international understanding. On March 14, the association was entered in the register of associations at the District Court of Dresden under number VR9835.
On the one hand, the name "Ars Augusta" was intended to evoke the location "Augustastraße". The street, right next to Wilhelmplatz, is dedicated to Empress Augusta. Augusta von Sachsen-Weimar-Eisenach (September 30, 1811 in Weimar, 1890 in Berlin) was Queen of Prussia and German Empress, and for her pacifist attitude in Prussian politics, her support of the arts and sciences and finally also for her humanistic activities, for example as a sponsor of the Red Cross, known and beloved. So no better name could fit for the Görlitz society on the Augusta-Street. Added to this is the tonal similarity of the "Ars Augusta" (which means "sublime art" in Latin) with the "Pax Augusta", i.e. the peaceful time of the Roman emperor, who was particularly famous for promoting the arts of his time.
"Peace and art" are exactly the goals of the new non-profit society, that was also the vision of the opera singer Eleni Ioannidou, who was born in Wrocław and has now come to Görlitz with her husband, the Munich author and musician, Heinz Müller. Eleni Ioannidou already had a connection with Görlitz: as a child she was often a guest of her Greek grandparents in Zgorzelec. When the border to Germany was opened in the 1970s, her Polish mother often came here for a walk with the small child: the mother later spoke of the friendly enthusiasm of the people from Görlitz for the black-haired child. The people of Görlitz have remained just as friendly to her over the past five years and have turned some of her visions into reality.
More than 30 salon concerts with artists from Poland and Germany, but also from the Czech Republic and other countries, took place in the small room with the old August Förster grand piano at Augustastrasse 6. The international projects then spread to the region around Görlitz. Not only the Polish-German Lusatian Baroque Ensemble performed, but also many other artists in places that connect Saxony with Silesia. Just a few of them are the Kurtheater in Szczawno Zdrój and the Zamek Książ (places connected to Bolko von Hochberg), the Municipal Museum "Gerhart Hauptmann House" in Agnetendort and the Museum "Carl und Gerhart Hauptmann House" in Szklarska Poręba, but above all the great monument "Perła Żeliszowa" with which the society has linked its destiny.
Ars Augusta continues to be involved in the renovation and later use of the former evangelical church near Bolesławiec. With the support of the German-Polish Foundation for Monument Protection, the Erika Simon Foundation and most recently the Prussian-German Cultural Heritage Foundation, as well as with the help of the Evangelical-Silesian Foundation and Mrs. Kempgen, the tower and galleries of the imposing monument could be renovated. In February 2022, the society applied with this project to the "Europa Nostra European Heritage Award" competition and was successfully selected.
On the German side of the river Neisse, we held many concerts in the Gosswitz Villa in Reichenbach O/L, a place that became our permanent partner, in the Hainewalde baroque palace, in the Zittau citizens' hall and especially in the Rammenau baroque palace, where we received the first support for our found activities in Ms. Eschler (left with Eleni Ioannidou).
The greatest success, however, was certainly the rediscovery of the opera "Giove in Argo" by Antonio Lotti in 2019 as a contribution to the celebrations of the 300th anniversary of the Planet-Festival in Dresden. In fact, the cooperation with the Friends of the Palais in the Great Garden in Dresden and Dr. Zimmermann from the society "Music Treasures from Dresden" bore important fruit and made the society recognized as a producer of baroque operas. The repetition of the opera at the Gerhart Hauptmann Theater in 2020 then opened the door for a cooperation with the local theater.
It's really a pity that there was only one performance!
September 23. 2019, Wolfram Quellmalz "Neue Musikalische Blätter"
A second, even more important, discovery of a treasure from the region's cultural heritage came in 2021, when Eleni Ioannidou discovered the only existing opera by the Habsburg-era court composer of the Wrocław Opera, Antonio Bioni, in the archive of the Verein der Musikfreunde in Vienna. Then came another international cooperation, this time with the "Opera in the Castle" in Szczecin and the first film: "Issipile"!
Given what the society has achieved so far under the leadership of Eleni Ioannidou, the profile of the institution stands out. It's about the cross-border cooperation between artists and institutions, it's about the commitment to the preservation of European cultural heritage and finally (the most difficult of these tasks) about working with the local population, about regional awareness - i.e. the awareness of the wealth of these region – to strengthen it even across borders. Where politics fails, culture wants to make the connections. We have achieved a lot, but unfortunately there is still a lot to do in this direction.
How do we want to achieve that?
We are in the middle of a very dangerous time for Europe. These are times of social division, in which not only social unrest but also outright wars flare up again in Europe.
We feel obliged to mediate again between political or geopolitical parties and to point out what they have in common instead of what divides them.
The "International Lied Competition Bolko von Hochberg" would like to be an ambassador for this idea. Eleni Ioannidou offers this competition as an alternative to the former "Silesian Music Festival" Bolko von Hochberg initiated 100 years ago in the Stadthalle. During the project "Homage to Bolko von Hochberg" in 2018, in which a group of students from the Görlitz University prepared a lecture on the chances of reviving the Silesian Music Festival, it became understandable that a "Silesian Music Festival" in 2022 makes little sense. Silesia as a region is no longer what it was before the war. The big advantage, however, is that the Stadthalle is right on the border with another European country. The European city of Görlitz-Zgrozelec, today a German-Polish city, could definitely become the seat of an international music initiative. A competition that not only brings together singers from Silesia, but singers from all over the world. So in June 2022 the competition will take place in our city and we can welcome over 160 singers and pianists from 40 countries here. The first round (June 12-14) will take place at Dom Kultury, semi-finals and finals at the Gerhart Hauptmann Theater. All rounds of the competition are open for the audience! The theme of this edition of the competition is "Hellas". The reason for this selection was the desire to make us all reflect on the roots of European culture. The music and the theater have their roots in the Greek tradition. In fact, the choice of this theme was so fitting that 250 artists immediately signed up for the competition. But the first selection of the international jury brought these 160 artists who will travel to Görlitz in June.
But not only the Prussian cultural heritage of the region inspires us for future projects. Above all, the Saxon cultural heritage of the region is very popular to the chairwoman of the society. Working on the “Giove in Argo” project opened her up to the world of the two Saxon kings of Poland. Not only August the Strong was a very important patron of culture who made Dresden a cultural metropolis in Europe. According to Eleni Ioannidou, his son Augustus III. is an underestimated and often misunderstood regent. In Poland he is considered a decadent and weak ruler, in Germany he is also not popular because of his defeat in the war with Prussia and because of his Catholic faith.
And yet Augustus III. is a ruler who served culture and international understanding like no other.
He initiated the renovation of the Wawel and other important monuments in Poland, he built palaces, brought Poland and Saxony together, his children learned Polish, he promoted the education of many Poles in Saxony, he brought important Italian artists to Warsaw and Dresden, he promoted music and theatre. He was pious and not interested in intrigues and wars.
In his honor, Eleni Ioannidou would like to initiate a cooperation with the Royal Museum in Łazienki in Warsaw. We would like to organize a Polish-German opera production every two years, which can be seen in Hubertusburg in Saxony, in the Gerhart Hauptmann Theater in Görlitz, in the small but fine theater in Cieplice Zdrój near Jelenia Góra and finally in the Royal Theater of the Lazienki Museum in Warsaw. This opera aims to commemorate the rich legacy of Augustus III., which can be found in abundance in the SLUB library in Dresden. Numerous operas by Johann Adolph Hasse were premiered in Hubertusburg and Warsaw. Our association wants to rediscover this common heritage. The first opera of this collaboration will appear as early as 2023 (the Kurtheater in Cieplice Zdrój in the picture below).
We are happy about the support of the Saxon and Polish audience for our projects. We depend on donations and sponsorship. The sponsors of our projects include: the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and Media in the Silesian Museum in Görlitz, the Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony, the company EUROIMMUN and Kaufhaus Görlitz, the Central German Baroque Music, the Erika Simon Foundation, the Polish Ministry of Culture and especially the European Union for funding in the INTERREG PL-SN project.
The sponsors of the upcoming competition: Municipality of Ottobrunn near Munich, District Office of Görlitz, Stiftung Sparkasse Oberlausitz Niederschlesien, the Hotel Best Western Görlitz Via Regia (Jauernicker Str.15) and some private donors.
However, we are still dependent on donations.
For every donation to our society, we give away one or more brochures (of your choice) of our past projects and even with a personal dedication.
These are:
- Bolko von Hochberg: Homage (only 4 brochures+CD available)
- Gerhart Hauptmann: Festspiel (Polish-German +CD) the pacifist play written by Gerhart Hauptmann for the Centennial Hall in Breslau in 1913.
- Anna Teichmuller. Brochure and CD with songs by the composer of the Schreiberhausen artist colony.
- Giove in Argo. Opera by Antonio Lotti. CD and program.
- Brochure and CD with music by Max Marschalk.
- SONG OF HELLAS. CD with songs inspired by ancient Greece. Project 2021 funded by the Commission Greece2021-200 years after the revolution.
We invite our friends to support our next projects. We name you as our sponsors and also issue a donation receipt for the tax office.
Stay with us and let's work together in our beautiful city for a better and more peaceful Europe.
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