German Music Festival with many partners and special accents

Lord Mayor Barbara Ludwig: "The popularity of and interest in the German Music Festival 2013 in our city are already high. We are currently in talks with many partners in the city and region so that we can integrate the good ideas and diverse activities from Chemnitz and the surrounding area into the festival. Regional bands from Chemnitz, family events, church concerts and orchestral music will bring a lot of sound, colour and emotion to Chemnitz city centre. I am delighted that the Ostdeutsche Sparkassenstiftung and Sparkasse Chemnitz, who have a keen sense of local cultural commitment, are supporting the German Music Festival so generously."

The programme for the music festival from 9 to 12 May 2013 is currently being drawn up. A family singing event on the Küchwald stage is planned as well as a Chemnitz Sound Night. The programme will be presented at the beginning of next year.

Siegfried Kauder, Chairman of the BDMV: "The Ostdeutsche Sparkassenstiftung and Sparkasse Chemnitz are enriching and shaping the 5th German Music Festival with their generous support. We are very grateful for this. They are helping to give the four-day festival an individual boost with a varied programme that directly benefits the participants and guests of the music festival. In the long term, however, this support will also sustainably support the further development of modern association and orchestra work, especially in the recruitment of young talent and the voluntary commitment of the many music clubs and music associations throughout Germany."

"Historically and in the present, Saxony is the land of music par excellence. Just think of Heinrich Schütz, Johann Sebastian Bach, Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Richard Wagner. But also think of the broad roots of music-making between the Vogtland, Erzgebirge and Leipzig. There could not be a more fitting location than Saxony. For this reason, the Ostdeutsche Sparkassenstiftung, together with the Sparkasse, has campaigned for Chemnitz as the venue," says Friedrich-Wilhelm von Rauch, Managing Director of the Ostdeutsche Sparkassenstiftung.

And Reiner Grimm, Chairman of the Board of Sparkasse Chemnitz, adds: "The savings banks are one of the largest non-governmental sponsors of art and culture in Germany and play a key role in shaping cultural life in the region with their wide-ranging commitment. A society without an awareness of its cultural achievements is like a boat without water. In Germany in particular, the roots of a diversely developed cultural landscape reach deep into all levels of society. But even in the 'land of thinkers and poets', the maintenance and further development of cultural values is only possible through the commitment of all social forces. Sparkasse Chemnitz is aware of this fact and takes it very much into account."

The 5th German Music Festival will take place in Chemnitz from 9 to 12 May 2013. More than ten thousand musicians and an estimated 150,000 visitors from all over Germany and its neighbouring countries are expected to attend Germany's largest music festival. More than 8,000 musicians have already announced that they will be coming to Chemnitz in May 2013. The city's hotels are almost fully booked from 9 to 12 May.

The organiser of the German Music Festival, the Bundesvereinigung Deutscher Musikverbände e.V., promises numerous concerts, musical competitions as well as lectures and symposia with renowned lecturers and speakers throughout the city centre. Federal President Joachim Gauck has assumed the patronage of the event.