Hello Leipzig: Here’s how Thursday 24 September 2026 gets underway

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It’s not something you see every day: the Gewandhaus, together with its orchestra, is hosting a world premiere. As expected, there’s still building, digging and maintenance work going on today. Along the railway tracks and on the motorway. At the Sparkasse’s Kunsthalle, today’s focus is on freedom, friendship and art – and this ‘HELLO’ here turns into a little ‘BYE’…

Buses instead of trains on night services

From this evening, rail passengers on two regional routes must prepare for rail replacement bus services. Due to maintenance work, the line between Leipzig Central Station

and Leipzig-Plagwitz will be completely closed to train services from 10 pm. The closure will last until 5 am on Friday 25 September.

The lines affected are the RE 12 and RB 22

on the Leipzig–Gera route: trains will be cancelled between Leipzig Central Station and Leipzig-Knauthain, with replacement buses operating on this section. Travelling towards Leipzig, the RE 80872 will arrive at Leipzig-Knauthain at 10.46 pm. The replacement bus departs from the Knautkleeberg bus stop at 10.52 pm, stops at Leipzig-Plagwitz/Naumburger Straße at 11.08 pm and arrives at Leipzig Central Station, east-side bus stop, at 11.23 pm.

In the opposite direction, the bus departs at 23:15 from Leipzig Central Station, east side, platform Q/R, stops at Leipzig-Plagwitz/Naumburger Straße at 23:30 and arrives at Knautkleeberg at 23:45. From Leipzig-Knauthain, the train continues at 11.52 pm and arrives at Gera Central Station at 12.40 am. On Friday morning, the RE 80830 arrives at Leipzig-Knauthain at 4.54 am, Leipzig-Plagwitz at 4.59 am, Leipzig-Möckern at 5.06 am and Leipzig Central Station at 5.10 am. Other Erfurter Bahn services are not affected by these specific works.

The company would like to point out that there are restrictions on carrying bicycles on the replacement buses!

On the same night, there will also be a disruption on the RE 50 Leipzig–Riesa–Dresden line. Due to track works in the Niederau area, the RE 16539 – which is scheduled to depart from Leipzig Central Station today at 11.08 pm – will not stop at Radebeul Ost. The Oberelbe Transport Association (VVO) specifies in its description that this applies on the night of 24–25 September from 00:20 to 00:40.

Motorway to get new monitoring station

Before we get into the artsy stuff, let’s stick to the evening traffic. On the A14 today, traffic will be tight between Leipzig-Ost and Leipzig-Nordost in the direction of Halle: due to the installation of induction loops for a continuous monitoring station, only single lanes will be available at times during two construction phases. The first phase begins at 8 pm and lasts until 1 am on Friday.

During this time, the left and middle lanes will be closed, so traffic will be channelled through a single lane. A second construction phase begins at 11.00 pm and is scheduled to last until 5.00 am on Friday. During this phase, the right-hand and middle lanes will be affected; here too, one lane will remain open to traffic. According to the published information, a full closure is not planned.

The works cover a section approximately 0.35 kilometres long, between 0.9 kilometres past the Leipzig-Ost junction and 1.1 kilometres before the Leipzig-Nordost junction. The maximum clearance width is 3.75 metres. The construction project is located at kilometre 74.860 and is identified by reference number 172-26.

Traffic disruption is possible on this important route from Leipzig towards Halle, particularly late in the evening. Short-notice changes cannot be ruled out. According to the authorities, the Saxony Police’s traffic warning service is updated every five minutes.

World premiere at the Gewandhaus

The Gewandhaus Orchestra will premiere a new work by Detlev Glanert this evening. His ‘Concerto for Two Violins and Orchestra’ will be performed for the first time at 7.30 pm in the Great Hall of the Leipzig Gewandhaus. Midori and Renaud Capuçon will perform the solo parts, with Semyon Bychkov conducting. The composition was commissioned jointly by the Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Bruckner Orchestra Linz and the New World Symphony Orchestra.

Glanert had previously composed his Second Violin Concerto for Midori and has now written this new double concerto for Midori and Renaud Capuçon. The programme begins with Bedřich Smetana’s “The Moldau”, the second symphonic poem from the cycle “My Fatherland”. Following the world premiere of Glanert’s work and an interval, Modest Mussorgsky’s ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ will be performed in Maurice Ravel’s orchestral arrangement.

Whilst Smetana musically traces the course of the Vltava through Bohemia, Mussorgsky’s work draws its extra-musical inspiration from individual images and scenes. Ann-Katrin Zimmermann will give a concert introduction in the Schumann-Eck at 6.45 pm.

Tickets are still available at the box office. A further performance of the programme is scheduled for Friday, 25 September, at the Gewandhaus. Detlev Glanert was born on 6 September 1960 in Hamburg and has lived in Berlin since 1987. From 1981 to 1988, he studied composition in Cologne under, amongst others, Diether de la Motte, Günter Friedrichs and Hans Werner Henze. In 1993, Glanert received the Rolf Liebermann Opera Prize for *Der Spiegel des großen Kaisers* (The Mirror of the Great Emperor), and in 2001 the Bavarian Opera Prize for *Scherz, Satire, Ironie und tiefere Bedeutung* (Joke, Satire, Irony and Deeper Meaning).

His more recent honours include the OPUS Klassik award for ‘Composer of the Year’ in 2020, the International Opera Award 2020/2021 for *Oceane*, and an OPER! AWARD in 2025 for *Die Jüdin von Toledo*.

A conversation on art and freedom

Hartwig Ebersbach and Frieder Heinze will be joining curator Olga Vostretsova for an artists’ talk this evening at 6 pm at the Kunsthalle der Sparkasse Leipzig (Otto-Schill-Straße 4a). Entitled “Free Expression on the World”, the discussion will focus on artistic expression, creative freedom and friendships, as well as dependence and independence in the art world. Admission is free; no booking is required.

The title draws on a description of art given by Heinze as a “free poetic expression on the world”. Both artists are closely linked to Leipzig’s art history and the pursuit of artistic freedom.

Even whilst studying at the Academy of Visual Arts, Leipzig (HGB), Ebersbach campaigned for a free painting class, which Bernhard Heisig was initially able to establish in 1961/62 as the ‘Class for Colour Design’. The Leipzig-based artist works experimentally with colour, format and space. Along with Lutz Dammbeck, Günter Firit, Hans-Hendrik Grimmling, Günther Huniat and Olaf Wegewitz, was one of the initiators of the 1st Leipzig Autumn Salon, which took place from 15 November to 7 December 1984 at the Leipzig Messehaus am Markt.

The independently organised exhibition, which aimed to be uncensored, challenged the state’s monopoly on public exhibition space in the GDR and is regarded as one of the most significant unofficial exhibitions in the GDR. Heinze now lives and works with the ceramicist Claudia Rückert on a farm in Leisnig.

Take me with you, Captain, on this journey

Everyone knows this feeling: everything’s running smoothly, the day’s work is a joy; sometimes there’s a hiccup, sometimes everything just falls into place – all in all, you can still feel content. And yet, that inner ‘charge level indicator’ for the soul’s battery gradually shifts from light green to dark red, the number of bars dwindling.

The perfect moment to book a ticket and pack your bag. A holiday is just what’s needed. A breath of fresh air on your face, peace of mind, and just letting things take their course…

For the morning LZ-HALLO, this means taking a little break too. On 12 October, we’ll be kicking off the day as usual again. Provided, of course, that the quay wall holds and the train isn’t two days late – you never know, after all. Have a good time. And as André Heller so beautifully sings: “They say that at the end of all journeys, all you know once again is that the earth is round…” See you soon!