The Heidelberg Lied Academy is part of the annual Heidelberger Frühling Festival.  Under the artistic direction of Thomas Hampson, and with the contribution of such prominent artists – and fellow song enthusiasts – as Ian Bostridge, Brigitte Fassbaender, Thomas Quasthoff and Wolfram Rieger, the Academy transforms the German city into an international meeting point for the Lied (classic song).  No city could make a more appropriate home for the Academy than Heidelberg, a place that epitomizes German Romanticism, the era that produced the greatest flowering of the art form.

Ranging well beyond the confines of the traditional master class, the Academy’s aim is to give young singers a variety of tools for well-informed text-based song interpretation. The credo of the Lied Academy, reflective of Hampson’s passionate belief in the uniquely expressive power of song, is that singers should tell stories, for only then can they really reach today’s audiences.   Thus, in addition to attending daily classes, the selected visiting fellows attend an array of workshops and lectures on the interpretation of poetry and the mysterious ways it is set to music.

“The model, idealistically speaking, is Tanglewood – the kind of American festival campus atmosphere with educational events and performances. It’s an oasis of a two week seminar for young singers who need to regroup and gather together everything they need to get at the heart of what songs are all about. Why are they written? Why are songs cultural identifiers, regardless of the culture or epoch they come from? This informing process enlivens the technical process. I do the bulk of the teaching, but Thomas Quasthoff is splitting the duties with me this year. Lieder professor, and one of my long-time collaborators, pianist Wolfram Rieger, will be teaching during the second week of the Academy as well. We also have a series of lectures by some of the most important German literature experts who know about music history as well. My friend Jens Malte Fischer, well known in America for his Mahler biography, heads the lectures series, which we work on together. It’s all very exciting stuff – and lots of fun. This is a passion of mine and it is very important to me.” ~ Thomas Hampson

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