A furious festival finale in Salzwedel
September 9, 2026
From: Stephan Ernst
The Altmark Festival 2026 came to a close with a furious finale in St. Mary’s Church in Salzwedel.
Salzwedel – The Altmark Festival is a renowned cultural series, established in 2014, which, under the motto “Culture in Special Places,” invites national and international artists to northern Saxony-Anhalt. The 2016 season was themed “Recognizing Happiness.” It concluded on Saturday in St. Mary’s Church in Salzwedel with a monumental performance of Giuseppe Verdi’s “Messa da Requiem.”
Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901) wrote this large-scale setting for choir, soloists, and orchestra in memory of the Italian poet Alessandro Manzoni, whom he greatly admired. Manzoni died in May 1873.
First performance on May 22, 1874
Verdi was so deeply affected by his death that he was unable to attend the funeral. As a form of solace and tribute, he soon began composing a Requiem Mass. For various reasons, the work, which was not premiered until May 22, 1874, in Milan, combines religious texts in Latin with powerful, dramatic operatic music. Connoisseurs often refer to it, with admiration, as Verdi’s “best opera without a stage.”
Under the experienced direction of festival director Reinhard Seehafer, the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, founded in Prague in 1993, delivered a brilliant concert that truly deserved the title “finale” in every respect as the grand finale of this year’s festival series. This also applied to the soloists Ekaterina Chayka-Rubinstein (mezzo-soprano), Bernhard Hansky (bass), and Kangyoon Shine Lee (tenor). Marcelina Roman, in particular, left a lasting impression on the audience with her expressive vocals. The soprano stepped in for Evelin Novak, who had fallen ill at short notice.
Thus, the evening in St. Mary’s Church became a moment in which Verdi’s music could unfold its full power – written out of grief, performed with devotion, received with gratitude. As the last notes of the Requiem faded and silence returned to the venerable church, the promise of this season’s motto, “Recognizing Happiness,” became palpable. In the encounter between world-class music and the cultural landscape of the Altmark region, and between an international orchestra and regional ties, the Altmark Festival proved once again: Great art needs no metropolises – only special places and people who are open to being moved.
