The 12th European Tolerance Talks will open with a commemorative concert on Sunday, May 17, at 6 p.m. in the Carinthian mountain village of Fresach. The requiem “Über den Sternen / Nad zvezdami” by Hannes Benedikt, Sepp Ranacher, and Hermann Fritz will receive another world premiere in the Protestant church – featuring texts by Ingeborg Bachmann on the occasion of her 100th birthday, arranged by Claudia Rosenwirth-Fendre and Ivana Kampuš. (Admission: €30).
The 2026 Tolerance Talks are themed “Resistance & Responsibility.” Ingeborg Bachmann’s literary resistance was directed against the suppression of the Nazi past, against patriarchal dominance, and against its capitalist excesses and aberrations in totalitarian ideologies. Throughout her life, she wrote against the “prevailing conditions,” uncompromising in her seemingly utopian search for truth and humanity, and remains an emancipatory and pacifist role model for generations to this day.
The GehDENK concert for Ingeborg Bachmann is under the artistic direction of composer Hannes Benedikt and offers a multifaceted, musical-literary program that unites singers and musicians from all over Carinthia/Koroška. Participants include the Fresach Choir (directed by Siggi Ebner & Burgi Leeb), the Fresach Wind Quartet (directed by Günther Unterkofler), the MundART Quartet (directed by Petra Schnabl-Kuglitsch), and the MGV Großkirchheim Quartet (directed by Hannes Benedikt).
The concert features a diverse musical and literary program, uniting singers and musicians from across Carinthia/Koroška. Organization: Christian Wohlmuth, Tel. +43 664 1419939, presse@fresach.org Admission: €30 | Free admission for young people.
