Winterreise – “A circle of eerie songs” by Franz Schubert

In this year’s anniversary edition of the Musica Viva festival, Franz Schubert’s famous song cycle “Winterreise” can be experienced in two unique interpretations and versions.
Christoph Prégardien, who has already performed several times at the festival with his congenial musical partner, pianist Michael Gees, is now returning to the former church in Hagen a.T.W. after 12 years with the original version of Schubert’s “Winterreise”.
From Prégardien’s perspective, the deep emotional themes of the songs, such as loss, grief and the search for self-understanding, offer many more facets today than they did in his youth. “As a young man, I found ‘Winterreise’ very sad and somewhat one-sided. Today I can see the anger, the sarcasm and the rebellion in the music,” said Prégardien during the performance in 2013.
It will be interesting to see how the interpretation will turn out today, in the year 2025.
In the final concert of Musica Viva on October 5, 2025, Schubert’s “Winterreise” will be presented in a fascinating new interpretation. Together with the Ensemble Resonanz, actor and musician Charly Hübner has created a completely new version that expands the cycle with contemporary sounds and sonic experiments.