Four German cities want to be Europe’s culture capital

Four German cities want to be Europe’s culture capital

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norman lebrecht

September 17, 2014

It’s Germany’s turn in 2025 (we should all live so long) and four cities have thrown their hats in the ring.

They are Leipzig, Dresden, Stuttgart and Magdeburg.

Stuttgart is part of a conspiracy to abolish an SWR orchestra. It deserves to be disqualified.

Magdeburg has temporarily exempted itself from regional arts cuts.

It looks like a straight fight between those old Saxon brawlers, Dresden and Leipzig. Thielemann vs Chailly. Interesting…

Thielemann.Christian vschailly hand

Comments

  • Simon S. says:

    You can’t blame the city of Stuttgart for the behaviour of the SWR broadcasting corporation. Or do you blame London as a city for any arts relvant cuts in the BBC budget?

    Nevertheless, Stuttgart is a boring city, and so is Magdeburg. Dresden pretends to be something like an enlerged Rothenburg ob der Tauber and disqualifies istelf due to its obscene and disgusting claim of being a victim of WWII and the Nazi regime.

    If there are really no ther candidates, it can only be Leipzig.

    • Michael Schaffer says:

      That’s a bizarre comment. Dresden is not a person, so “it” doesn’t “claim” anything, let alone to be “a victim”. Whether or not the almost complete destruction of the strategically unimportant city by firebombing near the end of an already lost war was “necessary” or just an act of revenge by the British is still debated by historians but it has nothing to do with this topic anyway. I am gathering from your comment though that you think firebombing cities is always OK.

  • Gilles says:

    Chailly of course !!:):):):)

  • Manfred Gerber says:

    The SWR Orchestra belongs to the Radio.
    Apart from Munich and Berlin there is no German City spending so much
    Money on Culture like Stuttgart.
    So maybe some people think its a boring City, but when it comes
    To organize cultural events, believe me, its the hell of a City. And
    the ” Publikum” is great. The City offers all we need: orchestras,
    opera, theatres, ballet… Not talking about the great Museums.
    Manfred Gerber, Schaffhausen , Former Intendant of Stuttgart Philharmonic
    (1975-1979)

  • Martin says:

    Which of these cities needs the biggest excuse to use tax payer money to do some city centre renovation?

  • Michael Schaffer says:

    Magdeburg isn’t such a hot city these days, but it is one of the oldest cities in Germany and one which played an important role in the earliest days of German history, so there could be an interesting theme there as background, contrasting the very old with the very new.

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