Musikfestival Potsdam Sanssouci
8th to 23rd June 2019
MUSEN
A more beautiful image signifying the appreciation of art than that of the Muses on Mount Parnassus is difficult to find. According to ancient legend the embodiments of science and art gathered on a shadowy mountain ridge so that they might celebrate in unison and harmony. Throughout history human beings appreciative of art have attempted time and again to bring about this mythical paradise of the arts in the real world. Some of the most important evidence can be found in the Palaces and Gardens of Potsdam Sanssouci where even today we encounter the Muses and their entourage. However, one must not be deceived, Mount Parnassus is just as little a pure idyll as it is merely a comfortable retreat. Even in ancient legends the gathering of the Muses is not without conflict. In 2019 the Music Festival Potsdam Sanssouci is tracing all this. It raises the question as to the very nature of inspiration, which the Muses proverbially stand for, but above all it raises the question of togetherness. Dancing, poetry and many other forms of human expression enter a dialogue on Mount Parnassus conjoined by the power of music. The Festival puts its thematic emphasis on precisely this relationship between individual art forms and music. Inspired by the Genius Loci, which forever provides new syntheses between music and garden art, music and painting, music and architecture yet also demands to ask for current connections between the arts in the here and now.
Yours sincerely,
Dorothee Oberlinger
Artistic Director of the 2019 programme
