OUR FESTIVAL STORY

When the opera singer and chair-woman of the Society Ars Augusta, Eleni Müller, initiated the International Lied Competition Bolko von Hochberg in the border region in 2021, she found inspiration not only in the old festival that took place in our European city of Görlitz-Zgorzelec 100 to 200 years ago and was directed by Bolko. The Silesian Music Festivals were gatherings of music societies from the entire region. At that time, singing – especially Lied and choral singing – was an everyday part of people’s lives. But THE LIED is currently experiencing a renaissance, and she understood this immediately when she saw the enthusiastic participation in the competition from all over the world. The incredible talent of the young musicians, their passion, and the beauty of the music when two performers play as if they were one instrument gave her the idea of organising a small festival in the year following the competition, showing the talents of the Competition. This idea was supported by the magnificent landscape of the Saxony-Silesia region: the Hirschberg Valley of castles and gardens, Upper Lusatia, and splendid halls in Bautzen, Görlitz and Zittau. 

After the third edition of the competition in 2026, the festival “Lied an der Neiße” is now beginning for the first time, in the hope of making the region a centre of music and romance, of song and of wanderers in the future. Valuable partners on the polish side is the conductor and cultural manager Bartosz Żurakowski (Foundation Belle Voci) and Grazyna Glodek, director of the House of Culture in Lubań.

Special thanks to the partners of the festival in this year, Palace Krobnitz and the Spa House of Szczawno Zdrój in Poland.

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A warm invitation to our beautiful region – a warm invitation to experience the beauty of Lied singing here.