Gala Concert “A Musical Journey Through Time—From Minnesang to Folk,” September 11, 2026, 7:00 p.m.
To kick off the celebrations marking the 1,000th anniversary of what is documented as the oldest church site in Mecklenburg, on Friday, September 11, 2026, 7:00 p.m. in cooperation with the musicians of the SONORO – CONSORT ensemble, you are cordially invited to the village church.
This concert project, part of the ensemble’s 2026 guest performance program titled “A Musical Journey Through Time—From Minstrel Song to Folk,” is dedicated to music spanning from the Middle Ages through the 20th century. The performers—Marion Ebert, Dr. Grit Nonnemann, Dr. Friederike Lempe (ret.), Hartmuth Juch, and Steffen Böhme—will present works by renowned European composers that are rarely heard. The musicians have very deliberately chosen to focus artistically on the theme of minnesang from the High Middle Ages. The occasion also marks the 700th anniversary of the death of the only recorded minnesinger in the Baltic region, Wizlaw III of Rügen—the last ruler of the principality and vassal of the Danish king—in November 2025. They carefully attempt to project some of Wizlaw’s songs—preserved in the Jena Song Manuscript from the early 14th century—into the 21st century in a historically informed adaptation as Middle High German Sangspruch poetry, presenting them in a musically and sonically compelling manner.
In this approximately 90-minute moderated program, both popular pieces and rarely performed rarities from music history will be performed on historical musical instruments seldom heard today. The discerning audience can look forward, among other things, to performances on recorders, the krummhorn, the lute, and the keyed fiddle—known in Swedish as the nyckelharpa and in Italian as the viola d’amore a chiavi.
In addition to the songs of Wenceslaus III, the program includes compositions by W. v. d. Vogelweide, H. Isaac, T. Arbeau, J. Playford, J. Dowland, J. Pachelbel, G.P. Telemann, W.A. Mozart, and 20th-century folk music.
Doors open at 6:00 p.m. Tickets, priced at 18.00 EUR (reduced rate: 15.00 EUR), can be pre-ordered or purchased immediately via email: sonoro-consort-mv@web.de or by phone: 0176.210 219 50. Following the concert, the organizers and performers ask for a donation to further support preservation work on the church building as well as the preservation of the intangible cultural heritage of “music preservation” in the field of “early music.”