Con spirito – Leipzig´s Chamber Music Festival

How do Jewish influences in music sound like? In the theme year ‘Tacheles – Jewish Culture in Saxony’, CON SPIRITO will be tracing the Jewish tunes of Leipzig's Romantics from 12 to 20 September 2026. Friendships between the Schumanns and the Mendelssohns, Joseph Joachim, Giacomo Meyerbeer, Heinrich Heine, Ferdinand Hiller and Ferdinand David will be audible. Richard Wagner will also come into focus with his youthful enthusiasm for Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Giacomo Meyerbeer, which later turned into the opposite.

International stars of the chamber music scene will also be performing at the sixth festival season: Antje Weithaas, Angela Chan (winner of the Joseph Joachim Violin Competition 2024), Tobias Feldmann, Jalda Rebling, Sergey Ostrovsky, Pauline Sachse, Peter Bruns and many more.

Get one of our limited festival passes before the official advance sale and enjoy all concerts in the best seats at the special price of 180 euros (instead of 240 euros).

You are also welcome to follow us on our social media channels: Facebook and Instagram!

Saturday, 12 September 2026 | 6 p.m. | Gewandhaus zu Leipzig (Mendelssohn Hall)
Tickets: PG 1: 35/25 EUR, PG 2: 30/20 EUR plus advance booking fee
(available at the Gewandhaus box office)

Programme:
Ludwig van Beethoven/Ignaz Moscheles
Overture to “Egmont”
arranged for flute, violin, cello and piano

Carl Frühling
Clarinet Trio, Op. 40

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
String Octet, Op. 20

Antje Weithaas, Sergey Ostrovsky, Angela Chan, Jona Schibilsky | Violin
Pauline Sachse, Noémie Bialobroda | Viola
Peter Bruns, Yibai Chen | Cello
Anna Garzuly-Wahlgren | Flute
Thorsten Johanns | Clarinet
Oliver Triendl | Piano

Sunday, 13 September 2026 | 7 p.m. | Schumann-Haus Leipzig
Tickets: 30/20 € plus advance booking fee

Programme:
Friedrich Gernsheim
Piano Quartet No. 2

Joseph Joachim
Hebrew Melodies for Viola and Piano, Op. 9

Robert Schumann
Fairy Tales, Op. 132
and others

Antje Weithaas | Violin
Pauline Sachse, Noémie Bialobroda | Viola
Peter Bruns | Cello
Thorsten Johanns | Clarinet
Oliver Triendl | Piano

Tuesday, 15 September 2026 | 7 p.m. | Alte Nikolaischule, Wagner-Aula
Tickets: 30/20 € plus advance booking fee

Programme:
Jacques Francois Fromental Halévy/Richard Wagner
Le Guitarrero
Arrangement by Richard Wagner for flute, violin, viola and cello

Giacomo Meyerbeer
Clarinet Quintet in E flat major

Erwin Schulhoff
String Sextet

Antje Weithaas, Sergey Ostrovsky, Angela Chan, Jona Schibilsky | Violin
Pauline Sachse, Noémie Bialobroda, Gesine Hadulla | Viola
Peter Bruns, Yibai Chen | Cello
Anna Garzuly-Wahlgren | Flute
Thorsten Johanns | Clarinet

Wednesday, 16 September 2026 | 7 p.m. | Bach Museum, Summer Hall
Tickets: 30/20 € plus advance booking fee

Programme:
Alexander Zemlinsky
String Quintet in D minor (1894)

Fritz Kreisler
String Quartet

Arnold Schönberg
Verklärte Nacht, Op. 4 (1899)

Antje Weithaas, Sergey Ostrovsky, Angela Chan, Jona Schibilsky | Violin
Pauline Sachse, Noémie Bialobroda, Gesine Hadulla | Viola
Peter Bruns, Yibai Chen | Cello

Thursday, 17 September 2026 | 7 p.m. | Thomaskirche
Tickets: PG1: 35/20 €, PG2: 20/15 € plus advance booking fee

Friday, 18 September 2026 | 7 p.m. | Mendelssohn Haus
Tickets: 30/20 € plus advance booking fee 

Programme:
Ferdinand Hiller
Serenade No. 2, Op. 186, for piano trio

Poems of Heinrich Heine
Clara Schumann
“Ich stand in dunklen Träumen” (I stood in dark dreams), Op. 13/1
“Sie liebten sich beide” (They both loved each other), Op. 13/2
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
“Auf den Flügeln des Gesanges” (On the wings of song), Op. 34/2
“Morgengruß” (Morning greeting), Op. 47/2
“Gruß” (“Leise zieht durch mein Gemüt”) (Greetings – Softly passes through my mind), Op. 19/5

Frédéric Chopin
“Heroic Polonaise” in A flat major, Op. 53
– dedicated to Auguste Léo –

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
Sonata in D major, Op. 58, for violoncello and piano
and others

Tobias Feldmann | Violin
Peter Bruns, Yibai Chen | Cello
Thorsten Johanns | Clarinet
Oliver Triendl, Annegret Kuttner | Piano

Saturday, 19 September 2026 | 7 p.m. | Grieg-Begegnungsstätte
Tickets: 30/20 € plus advance booking fee

Programme:
Sergei Prokofiev
Overture on Hebrew Themes, Op. 34

Alexander Weprik
3 Folk Dances, Op. 13b for Piano Trio

Mieczysław Weinberg
Sonata for Clarinet and Piano, Op. 28

Dmitri Shostakovich
Piano Trio in E minor, Op. 67

Tobias Feldmann, Sergey Ostrovsky, Angela Chan, Jona Schibilsky | Violin
Pauline Sachse | Viola
Peter Bruns, Yibai Chen | Cello
Thorsten Johanns | Clarinet
Oliver Triendl, Annegret Kuttner | Piano

Sunday, 20 September 2026 | 11 a.m. | Hochschule für Musik und Theater "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" (Gr. Hall)
Tickets: PG1: 30/20 €, PG2: 20/15 € plus advance booking fee 

Programme:
Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
Song Without Words, Op. 109, for cello and piano
String Quartet, Op. 44/2, 1st movement
Sonata for Violin in F major, MWV Q 261838, 1st movement
String Symphony No. 7 in D major, 1st movement
Cello Sonata in D major, Op. 58, 2nd and 3rd movements
and other works

Tobias Feldmann, Angela Chan, Jona Schibilsky | Violin
Pauline Sachse, Noémie Bialobroda, Gesine Hadulla | Viola
Peter Bruns, Yibai Chen | Cello
Thorsten Johanns | Clarinet
Oliver Triendl, Annegret Kuttner | Piano
Jalda Rebling | Cantor, Vocals