Two-Week Chamber Music Festival in Berlin

From October 25th to November 8th 2025, a two-week chamber music festival took place in Berlin: Eight young musicians and two tutors participated in an intensive concert programme, giving a total of 23 performances across the city, three of which were open to the public.

During the first week, four young students from Zurich, Hamburg, Freiburg, and Berlin came together to work under the guidance of violinist Anna Gebert on Johannes Brahms’ String Quintet no. 2 in G major op. 111 and W. A. Mozart: String Quintet no. 2 in C minor. 

In particular, the concerts in facilities for people with sensory and psychological disabilities as well as in the juvenile detention center left a lasting impression on the musicians and sparked both reflections and group discussions.

A highlight of the week took place on October 30th, when we celebrated the 1,000th Musethica concert in Germany. The concert was held at Die Macherei of Johannesstift Proclusio gGmbH, a long-standing Musethica partner since 2015. The audience, as always, was deeply appreciative and fully engaged. The musicians spent the entire day on the Johannesstift campus, giving three concerts in total. In addition to Die Macherei, they visited the palliative care unit for Ukrainian refugees, where a lively conversation over coffee and biscuits followed the performance. 

The second week introduced piano into the mix. Pianist Dirk Mommertz worked closely with the Euphorie Quartet, a piano quartet founded at the Hanns Eisler School of Music in Berlin. Whether in schools, kindergartens, a correctional facility or a senior residence, conversations with the audience flourished. Encouraged by the musicians, the listeners shared a wide range of associations evoked by the music, ranging from a thriller to forests and oceans.

In total, the festival reached 1,161 listeners over the two weeks.

Both Anna Gebert and Dirk Mommertz tutored a Musethica session for the first time, and both emphasized that it would hopefully not be the last. In his remarks at the final concert at the Hanns Eisler School of Music, Dirk Mommertz described his experience as “the most meaningful of my entire teaching career” - a remarkable compliment and a strong affirmation of the Musethica concept.