Carefully chosen themes serve as the guiding thread as we are transported back into the days of St. Elisabeth in a musical context, and several of her initiatives are presented in terms of their musical significance. The opening concert, for instance, brings the audience a flavour of the musical life at hospitals to the ears of the audience.

Hospitals were not merely oases for the care of the sick and the poor, but also spiritual centres and temples of the muses: the most famous institutions of this kind were to be found in Venice because there, women and girls were the sole protagonists.

They made music and sang, whilst also caring for the infirm and raising orphans. Venice’s Ospedali were exemplary, especially for the central German region – pilgrimages to them were undertaken, and their maestri and composers, or at least their compositions, were sought after, while the ladies were sent there for educational purposes.

On 12 October, splendid works from the repertoire of these Venetian conservatories for women – as the hospitals were also termed – will be performed for the first time in Thuringia by the Körnerscher Sing-Verein Dresden and Dresdner Instrumental Concert with the sopranos Sonya Yoncheva and Valentina Varriale and the countertenor José María lo Monaco, beneath the vaulted ceiling of the Georgenkirche in Eisenach.

Also on 14 October, under the direction of Professor Susanne Scholz, the ensemble L’Estro Armonico and students and alumni from the Institute of Early Music at the Conservatory of Music “Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy” will offer Serenata a tre by Vivaldi. Since in everyday hospital musical life important roles were assumed not only by the voice but also by the organ, two organ concerts are included in the programme: in the Bach House at Eisenach, where the organist Jolando Scarpa of Venice/Bologna will also be bringing repertoire from the Venetian hospitals on 13 October, the other in Suhl, where on 27 October Roland Götz will make the connection with the main beneficiary of jubilee celebrations in 2007, Dietrich Buxtehude.

Philipp Heinrich Erlebach is the focus of the closing concert taking place on 28 October in the Weimar Herderkirche St. Peter and Paul. Manfred Fechner and Ludger Rémy, together with his ensemble Les Amis de Philippe, present newly discovered cantatas for festive days of the church year by this composer from Rudolfstadt who today is all but forgotten, at least in part due to the loss of most of his works. Wolfgang Katschner and the Lautten-Compagney air a further recent unearthing from Sondershausen’s Italian holdings on October 20, in Sondershausen.

In addition, guest artists at the festival include the ensemble Amarcord, the flautist Marion Fermé and the ensemble La Beata Olanda with a programme of music and dance.

More information on www.amt-ev.de