Schma Leipzig – Listen, Leipzig! The ‘Europäische Notenspuren’ festival begins on 14 November

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From 14 to 21 November 2026, the ‘Europäische Notenspuren’ festival, under the motto ‘Schma Leipzig – Listen, Leipzig!’, invites visitors on a musical journey of discovery through the city. To mark the launch of the ‘Leipzig Notenbogen’, as part of TACHELES 2026 – Year of Jewish Culture in Saxony – and the European Days of Jewish Culture, this year’s festival is dedicated to Leipzig’s Jewish musical heritage.

Concerts, city tours and school events will take participants to forgotten sites of Jewish musical life, bring lost musical traditions back to these places and shed light on individual figures and facets of this rich history.

The city tours taking place as part of the ‘Europäische Notenspuren’ festival
follow the new Leipzig ‘Notenbogen’, the first section of which, comprising 13 stops, was opened on 6 September 2026. The seven-kilometre route runs west of the city centre, taking in the homes of famous composers, the venues where Jewish musicians worked, and sites housing musical collections and educational institutions; it is part of the Council of Europe’s European Route of Jewish Heritage.

The festival kicks off on 14 November at the Brodyer Synagogue with the concert ‘Écoute, Leipzig!’:
Chief Rabbi Zsolt Balla, cantors from the Institute for Traditional Jewish Liturgy in Leipzig and the Strasbourg synagogue choir La Chorale Le Chant Sacré, conducted by Rémi Studer, will engage in a German-French dialogue and breathe new life into rarely heard Nussach melodies.

On 15 November, at the Museum of Fine Arts, the Ensemble Sospiratem will present ‘Henriques – Hinrichsen’
, recounting the extraordinary journey of a family from their expulsion from Spain, via Portugal and Denmark, to Leipzig, accompanied by music from the 13th to the 20th centuries. On the same morning, a guided tour through the Waldstraßenviertel will take visitors to the homes and places of work of composers such as Gustav Mahler and the Jewish cantor Samuel Lampel, complemented by live music in the former prayer room of the Hasidic Rebbe Israel Friedmann.

It is
precisely this cantor, Samuel Lampel, to whom
the concert ‘(Un)forgotten’
on 17 November at the Ariowitsch-Haus is dedicated:
The Leipzig Synagogue Choir, conducted by Philipp Goldmann, tenor Falk Hoffmann and Thomas Organist Johannes Langer, together with a lecture by musicologist Dr Thomas Schinköth, will pay tribute to the music teacher and cantor who worked in Leipzig for almost 30 years before being deported and murdered in 1942.

On 18 November, the ‘Salon Krause’
salon orchestra will revive the repertoire of the former New Leipzig Operetta Theatre at the Schauspiel Leipzig; until 1944, this theatre – a driving force behind Jewish entertainment culture – was based right next to the former Great Community Synagogue. An afternoon guided tour through the Kolonnadenviertel will take visitors to the former sites of Leipzig’s two largest synagogues and the Operetta Theatre.

With ‘Rak rega – just a moment’,
the Leipzig-based Balkan band Herje Mine, together with singer Walburga Walde, will bring Sephardic songs, piyyutim and klezmer music, ranging from melancholy to a dance-like zest for life. On the same day, the City Library invites visitors to a guided tour of the Peters Music Library, founded in 1893, which owes its existence to the publishers Henri Hinrichsen and his uncle Max Abraham.

On 20 November, the concert ‘Hört hört! Treasures of the Peters Music Library’ in the Oberlichtsaal will feature rarely heard works by Felix Mendelssohn, Anton Rubinstein and Erwin Schulhoff, performed by the Niels Gade Chamber Orchestra.

The festival concludes on 21 November with the popular ‘Notenspur Night of House Music’:
in living rooms, shops and offices across Leipzig, amateurs and professionals, young and old alike, will make music together. Anyone wishing to take part as a host or musician can register until 31 October at www.notenspur-leipzig.de/hausmusik
. Attendance at the individual concerts is also only possible with prior registration; admission is free.

As part of the programme, festival musicians will visit schools in Leipzig on several mornings, and on 19 November there will be a concert entitled ‘Journey Through the Year – Music on Jewish Holidays’ for Years 3 to 6 at the Ariowitsch-Haus.

Advance booking:
www.ticketgalerie.de
, except for the concert at the Schauspielhaus on 18 November. Tickets for that event are available at schauspiel-leipzig.de

Events as part of the ‘Europäische Notenspuren’ festival

14 November, 7.30 pm, Brodyer Synagogue (Keilstr. 4–6): Écoute, Leipzig! A dialogue
between
traditional Jewish
liturgy from Strasbourg and Leipzig. Featuring: Regional Rabbi Zsolt Balla, cantors from the Institute for Traditional Jewish Liturgy in Leipzig and La Chorale Le Chant Sacré from Strasbourg (conducted by Rémi Studer)
Admission: Advance tickets €12 / concessions €10; remaining tickets at the box office €15 / concessions €12; registration required

15 November, 11.00 am,
Meeting point: Junction of Goerdelerring and Tröndlinring, in front of the Travel24 Hotel: City tour: Between opera and prayer in the Waldstraßenviertel with Dr Melanie Eulitz and Dr Felix Papenhagen, accompanied by musicians from the University of Music and Theatre
Admission: Advance booking €6 / concessions €4; remaining tickets on the door €5 / concessions €3; registration requested

15 November, 7.30 pm,
Museum of Fine Arts,
Leipzig (Katharinenstraße 10): Henriques – Hinrichsen: A Family History in Songs with the Ensemble Sospiratem.
Admission: Advance booking €12 / concessions €10; remaining tickets at the box office €15 / concessions €12

17 November, 7.30 pm
, Ariowitsch House (Hinrichsenstr. 14): (Un)forgotten: The composer, teacher and cantor Samuel Lampel in Leipzig. Featuring the Leipzig Synagogue Choir (conducted by Philipp Goldmann), tenor Falk Hoffmann, pianist Johannes Lang, and a talk by Dr Thomas Schinköth.
Admission: Advance booking €12 / concessions €10, remaining tickets at the box office €15 / concessions €12

18 November, 11.00 am
, Schauspiel Leipzig, Bosestr. 1: A visit to the New Leipzig Operetta Theatre. Featuring the Krause Salon Orchestra.
Admission: Advance booking €12 / concessions €10; remaining tickets at the box office €15 / concessions €12
Advance tickets available via Schauspielhaus Leipzig at schauspiel-leipzig.de

18 November, 1.30 pm
, meeting point: Bosestraße: City tour: Art, musical theatre and synagogues – Jewish life in the Kolonnadenviertel. With Michael Schönherr and Prof. Werner Schneider.
Admission: Advance booking €6 / concessions €4; remaining tickets on the door €5 / concessions €3; booking recommended

19 November, 5.00 pm
, Leipzig City Library: Guided tour: Peters Music Library. Free admission

19 November, 7.30 pm
, Leipzig Museum of Fine Arts, Katharinenstraße 10: Rak rega – just a moment. With Herje Mine and Walburga Walde (vocals).
Admission: Advance tickets €12 / concessions €10; remaining tickets at the box office €15 / concessions €12

20 November, 7.30 pm
, City Library, Oberlichtsaal (Wilhelm-Leuschner-Platz 10–11): Hear, hear! Treasures of the Peters Music Library (IV) – Voices of a Restless World. Featuring the Niels Gade Chamber Orchestra.

Free admission.

21 November from 7.00 pm
, various venues in Leipzig: Notenspur – Night of Home Music
Registration: www.notenspur-leipzig.de/hausmusik · Free admission

Programmes for schools

All school programmes and registration at www.notenspur-leipzig.de/festivaleuropa

19 November, 10.00 am
: A Journey Through the Year – Music on Jewish Festivals. With Ayala Sivan Levi, Gal Levy, Izabela Kałduńska · for Years 3–6, by registration only. Free admission.

School visits and workshops
with festival musicians: 16, 17, 19 and 20 November, in the mornings. For all age groups

Further information can be found at www.notenspur-leipzig.de/festivaleuropa
.

The ‘Europäische Notenspuren’ festival is supported by the City of Leipzig and the Cultural Foundation of the Free State of Saxony. The concert ‘Écoute, Leipzig! A dialogue between traditional Jewish liturgy from Strasbourg and Leipzig’ on 14 November 2026 is supported by the European Heritage Days (joint funding from the European Union and the Council of Europe) and the Franco-German Citizens’ Fund.