Bernburg/Aschersleben. "We are particularly looking forward to the start of summer this year. And then to our musical guests from Catalonia. We will be good hosts and partners in this mutual exchange." District Administrator Markus Bauer is full of anticipation and appreciation these days that the Salzlandkreis district can offer its residents so much culture, because committed people come up with lots of ideas for sophisticated diversity in rural areas.
The Spaniards are coming, as the Béla Bartók District Music School has been saying for some time now. All preparations are in full swing. This is because 43 musicians from Barcelona are expected to visit the district-run educational institution in Aschersleben, the oldest town in Saxony-Anhalt, in June. The Spanish guests belong to a brass and big band formation from the "Juan Pedro Carrero" music school in Barcelona and play in the "Raval's Band" and "Big L'EM Band". They had been looking for interested partners as part of the adult education programme of the European Erasmusplus funding programme - and found them, as the Salzland district offered its cooperation.
"We are planning a joint workshop with pupils and teachers, with our big band under the direction of Nikolai Erpilev," says Aschersleben site manager Dieter Giesemann. He is also the deputy head of the Salzland district's music school and says: "It will be a great challenge to organise the interaction with the as yet unknown musicians from Spain, with adults and young people. But as we all know, music brings people together and is fun."
The 80 or so instrumentalists, trumpets and trombones, drums, clarinets, basses and many more, want to show how well they harmonise together in front of a public audience. On Sunday, 22 June at 5 p.m., concentrated power and joy of playing will take to the big stage in the Bestehornhaus in Aschersleben, a European community concert with the leitmotif "Viva la musica". Admission is free when well-known songs such as "Birdland" or "All the way" are performed together. Of course, the European anthem "Ode to Joy" is not to be missed.
With this orchestral strength, a Spanish-German big big band, the event will have a lasting effect on everyone involved. The organisers from the Salzland district are firmly convinced of this.
As part of the visit, the Spanish guests will enrich the Europe-wide music festival "Féte de la musique" with a musical contribution in Aschersleben the day before. Public squares will be transformed into stages and the shortest night of the year will also be dedicated to music in the Salzland district thanks to the organisers Aschersleber Kulturanstalt and Kunstquartier Grauer Hof.
The upcoming exchange between the music school from Barcelona and the "Béla Bartók" district music school also includes a visit to the music school in the district town of Bernburg in the following days. Promoting the joy of music together and strengthening musical practice are some of the aims of the project, which is organised and funded by the European Union, the State Chancellery and Ministry of Culture of Saxony-Anhalt and the Salzlandkreis as part of the Salzlandkreis's European funding.