Dear visitors to Musica Sacra International!

For the first time we have chosen a central theme for the festival. We would thereby like to intensify the exchange between members of various religious traditions, to which Musica Sacra International has always been committed to from the very beginning. Given the current climate crisis, the decision was made to choose the earth on which we live, as our theme. Our earth connects us all – yet religious traditions offer us very differing perspectives on it.

The Jewish faith counts time since the creation of the earth. This is because the creation is derived from the historic experience of the believers with God, which points to the salvation of the human being and the entire creation. For Muslims, however, the creation seems to be something entirely flawless. The creation displays Allah’s greatness and sovereignty. Hindu traditions on the other hand understand creation as a perpetual process of the world’s becoming, and in which the deities are involved. For Buddhists, however, the question of the creation of the world is of no concern. Everything real is ultimately an illusion and needs to be overcome by kindness, mercy, shared joy and composure. Just as Jewish believers, we as Christians acknowledge God as the creator of the world to whom we are accountable. What happens in world history is also down to us.

May the music of this festival express the widespread joy about this earth and also include the reminder to us humans, to treat it with care.

Planification and organization of this festival was and continues being challenged by extraordinary circumstances. We, therefore, would like to thank all musicians for their flexible and positive cooperation. Moreover, we give thanks to the full-time team for their restless search for ever new solutions when faced with more political limitations caused by the pandemic. Special thanks also to all volunteers and to everybody who supports our festival financially or conceptually.

We are very much looking forward to the musical and human dialogue, be it personally or virtually!

Dr. habil. Verena Grüter & Bettina Strübel