BFAM: A New Early Music Festival in Berlin

Launching a new festival at a time when cultural budgets are tightening across Europe? Sarah Fuhs has nevertheless decided to take the plunge in Berlin. From November 26 to 29, the soprano and artistic director of the ensemble Titans Rising will launch the Berliner Festival Alter Musik (BFAM), with an inaugural edition devoted to “Faszination Renaissance”.

Sarah Fuhs, soprano and Artistic Director of Titans Rising, launches the Berliner Festival Alter Musik in November with a simple idea: to bring European ensembles she hears too rarely in Berlin to the city, and to devote its first edition to a Renaissance still underrepresented in the German capital. © Matthias Gottwald

In Berlin, as elsewhere in Europe, announcements of funding cuts in the cultural sector keep coming. Yet in the German capital, a new festival will make its debut from November 26 to 29 in the central district of Berlin-Mitte: the Berliner Festival Alter Musik. The lineup, built around the theme “Faszination Renaissance” (“Fascination Renaissance”), features Cappella Pratensis, Sollazzo Ensemble, Profeti della Quinta, Joel Frederiksen and Ensemble Phoenix Munich, The Playfords, Titans Rising, and B’Rock Orchestra. Behind this initiative is Sarah Fuhs, an American soprano drawing on the experience she has patiently gained over thirteen seasons in Berlin-Charlottenburg with her ensemble Titans Rising. Her ambition is to broaden the German capital’s musical horizons and create four days when audiences can also come to discover, dance, and connect with one another. She discusses how the festival came into being, her artistic convictions, and… the uncertainties already surrounding its next edition.

Launching a new festival at a difficult time, when cultural budgets are being cut across the board, may seem paradoxical. Where did the idea come from?

Sarah Fuhs: First of all, it comes from a very personal wish. I regularly encounter outstanding musicians and wonderful ensembles across Europe, and I always find myself thinking the same thing: they never perform in Berlin! I am convinced there is an audience here that wants to hear them. So the idea grew out of a very simple desire: to invite these artists and introduce them in Berlin. With Titans Rising, we have been organising a concert season at the Kirche am Lietzensee in Charlottenburg for more than twelve years. Among other things, it offers an opportunity to discover ensembles from Berlin’s own music scene. But our financial resources remain limited. We cannot invite large ensembles or give every project the scope we would like. This new festival allows us to take that next step. After so many years of submitting applications for funding, we‘re finally able to invite major international ensembles.