During the Leipzig International Choral Festival the array of prestigious and exciting festival venues will make this an unforgettable music experience for all. Leipzig choirs will be linked with participating choirs from around the world for International Friendship Concerts. The Gewandhaus will be the magnificent setting for all choral masterclass workshops with Artistic Director Jonathan Willcocks. The Festival will open with an exciting Concert at St Nicholas Church. Other venues include the famous St Thomas Church, Reformed Church, St Michaels Church, St Peters Church and the culminating Gala Finale Concert which will be held in the Great Hall of the world renowned Gewandhaus of Leipzig.

he St. Nikolaikirche (St. Nicholas' Church) is an ecclesiastical building in Leipzig in front of which the Monday demonstrations took place in 1989.

The church's motto "St. Nicholas - open to all" attracts thousands of people each year. The church was built around 1165 when Leipzig, or St. Nicholas' City was founded. It is named after St. Nicholas, the patron saint of merchants and wholesalers and is situated in the very heart of the city on the corner of two historically important trade roads. It is built partially in the Romanesque style but was extended and enlarged in the early 16th century with a more Gothic style. The interior was remodelled by French architect Johann Carl Friedrich Dauthe in the neoclassical style. The church has been a protestant seat since 1539 after the Protestant Reformation.

View 2008 Finale Gala Concert
in St Nicholas Church

n March of 1743, sixteen Leipzig merchants gathered to found a concert society of sixteen musicians with the name "Grand Concert." In the 1770's the orchestra moved into the assembly hall of the cloth traders, the Gewandhaus (Garment House), to which the Leipzig orchestra and venue owe their name. Today the third concert hall to bear the name Gewandhaus is a modern performance venue with arguably the finest acoustics of any European concert hall. The Great Hall will be the setting for the closing gala concert which will bring the Festival to a thrilling conclusion.

The Gewandhaus building is not only a concert hall but a vast musical resource for the pursuit of excellence in music perfomance and we are also delighted to announce that Masterclass workshops for festival choirs, led by Jonathan Willcocks, will also take place in the Gewandhaus in the rehearsal room of the Gewandhaus choir.

View 2008 Opening Concert in the Gewandhaus

homaskirche, built in 1212, dominates Thomaskirchhof square, which has been restored to its former beauty. Originally established as a place of worship for Augustinian Canons it later took the form of a late gothic hall church in the 15th century. The inner and outer shape of the church has had much construction work done to it. The baroque styled turret dates from 1702 and the magnificent main entrance was built around 1886.

Today, Thomaskirche is used as a concert hall as well as a place of worship. Above all it is known as the home of the St Thomas's Boys choir and its renowned choir master, Johann Sebastian Bach. He worked in Leipzig from 1723 until his death in 1750 and was musical director for the church choir, City Hall and University which in effect made him musical director for the whole city. His grave is to be found in the choir in the church.