Opening event and official ceremony on 8th October 2011 in the ceremonial hall of the University of Bonn

The Schumann Forum was officially established on 8th October 2011 in the ceremonial hall of the University of Bonn. The foundation ceremony was attended by the Mayor of Bonn Jürgen Nimptsch. The project leader, Dr. Ingrid Bodsch, presented the Forum, which was originally launched at her own initiative, and is being funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the media.

The mainpart of the event, where Ingrid Bodsch and Irmgard Knechtges-Obrecht, board member of the Robert-Schumann-Society Düsseldorf, talked also about the new Schumann Journal, was constituted by the highly interesting and enthralling conversation between the Cologne-based music journalist Christoph Vratz and the renowned singer Christian Gerhaher about his adoration for Schumann.

Please see the complete transcript of the conversation and the video.

The internationally celebrated Bariton Christian Gerhaher, one of the most outstanding comtemporary interpreters of Schumann’s work appears as the first member of the newly established international Schumann Forum. The evening was musically accompanied with great virtuosity by the pianist Mizuka Kano, winner of the Zwickau International Schumann Contest in 2008. She played the Piano Sonata in F sharp minor op. 11 as well as the piece No. 5 „Zart und singend“ from Davidsbündlertänze op. 6.