European festivals Association

Kulturhaltestelle manages several music projects. It aims to create international cultural relationships in connecting artistic projects together, pool know-how and resources to unfold a higher level of creativity and success and build a cultural network. 

Kulturhaltestelle takes care of projects from other organisations or artists, however the core of its work is the making of own projects, including small scale projects like concerts or records and bigger projects like complete concert series and festivals. 

Kulturhaltestelle organises the Weissenhorn Klassik Festival (Germany) and the Giacinto Scelsi Festival Basel (Switzerland).

Giacinto Scelsi Festival 

Founded in 2014 by the pianist and composer Marianne Schroeder and the writer Jürg Laederach in Basel, the Giacinto Scelsi Festival has established itself in just a few years as an important event for contemporary music in Switzerland. 

 The festival is named after the composer Giacinto Scelsi (1905-1988), whose work ranks among the most important musical creations of the 20th century and whose stay in Switzerland for several years immediately after the Second World War had a decisive influence on his creative work. A major characteristic of Giacinto Scelsi's artistic influence is the understanding of music outside of traditional European compositional practice, which is based on predetermined forms and clear authorship. Rather as sound in connection with melodies or harmonies, sound in itself plays a major role in Scelsi's way of thinking. His work was also influenced by Eastern philosophies, especially Indian ones. 

The artistic director of the festival, Marianne Schroeder, is internationally known as an interpreter of new music. In the course of her musical career spanning several decades, she has worked with a large number of renowned composers. However, she remains connected to one composer through a particularly intensive exchange: Giacinto Scelsi. Uwe Bräutigam put it aptly for NRW Jazz: "Hardly any other musician is as familiar with the work and thinking of Giacinto Scelsi as Marianne Schroeder. She spent three years with Scelsi in Rome immersing herself in his compositions, and Scelsi gave her his complete piano works to perform and distribute on recordings. For decades Marianne Schroeder has been studying Asian wisdom teachings, one of the most important sources of inspiration for Scelsi's music."

Weissenhorn Klassik Festival 

Since its first edition in 2014, Weissenhorn Klassik Festival has grown to become an integral part of the regional cultural life in Southern Germany. The Fugger château, the historical council hall and theatre – the tiniest theatre in Bavaria – are a scenery to many festival concerts. In these premises, the Weissenhorn Klassik Festival offers the unique opportunity to experience innovative and high-quality concerts in an intimate atmosphere, listening to some of world’s most sought-after musicians who normally perform in large concert halls.