Fire, water earth and air: life's elementary powers - yet untameable forces of nature as well. The opening unites the Balthasar Neumann ensembles in their musical fathoming of the four elements based on the elementary power of singing. Monteverdi's Ulysses lets them celebrate the beauty of earth in bloom, Carissimi's Jonas takes them on a twenty-minute drama on a stormy sea. The fire of passionate love is ignited by South American baroque master Araujo carrying them into airy, celestial heights where Sven-David Sandström's suggestive a capella sounds open an incredible new world. Passionate vocal music specialist Olof Bomann conducts the ensembles, which were founded by Thomas Hengelbrock. A brilliant opening with one of the best choirs in the world.

However, the last chord in the Church of Peace does not mean the end. A walk through Marly Garden leads to the French Circle beneath the Sanssouci Terraces where marble incarnations of water, fire, earth and air embrace the Great Fountain. A ritual of sound will invoke and honour the "elements of life".