Protest against the liquidation of early music at University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar spreads internationally

With an 'Appeal of the Twelve', prominent artists, academics and public music institutions are raising their voices against the impending closure of the Institute of Early Music at the University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar. These are the conductors John Eliot Gardiner and Ton Koopman, Bach researcher and Harvard professor Christoph Wolff, Ernst von Siemens prizewinner Peter Gülke, Peter Reidemeister, former director of the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis for many years, Michael Maul as Director of the Leipzig Bach Festival, Wolfgang Hirschmann as President of the Standing Conference on Central German Baroque Music (MBM), Teunis van der Zwart as Head of the Early Music Department at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague, as well as Midori Seiler and Gottfried von der Goltz (both baroque violin), Dorothee Oberlinger (recorder) and Joachim Held (lute). Instead of abolishing it, they postulate an expansion of the institute as an artistic vision at this central music institution in the Bach city and European city of culture. Around 70 concerts and projects organised by students at the institute each year are a flagship and a significant tourist factor.

Students at the institute launched an online petition on 19 May after the threat of closure became known, which has so far received more than 30,000 signatures. It was presented to the Presidential Board of the University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar. A vote on the future of the institute will be held on 1 July at the university assembly.