The Big Bernstein
The Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival celebrates the 100th birthday of its founder
Two jubilarians met this year in the historic foundry buildings of the Carlshütte: NordArt celebrated its 20th anniversary, and the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival − whose concerts are an established part of every NordArt − honoured the 100th birthday of Leonard Bernstein, the founder of the SHMF Festival Orchestra. The star conductor and enthusiastic Schleswig-Holstein fan had a major impact on the largest classical music festival in Germany since it was founded in 1987. The music pulsated through the cavernous halls of the Carlshütte and NordArt during seven completely sold-out concerts held in his honour. Organist Cameron Carpenter, percussionist Martin Grubinger and clarinettist and SHMF “Portrait Artist” 2018 Sabine Meyer topped the bill in Bernstein’s honour! Each of the seven concerts demonstrated a different facet of Bernstein's artistic oeuvre — from film scores, to jazz, via classical music, all the way to his probably best known musical, "West Side Story". The powerful music veritably shook the roof of the foundry buildings, probably shifting the very last grains of dust that had remained in place from the times when the historic Carlshütte foundry was in its industrial prime. We are now looking forward to the new festival atmosphere on NordArt site in 2019. SHMF 2019 takes place from 6 July to 1 September 2019. Its composer retrospective will focus on Johann Sebastian Bach.
