Handel’s “Water Music”, Johann Strauss’ “On the Beautiful Blue Danube”, Smetana’s “Moldau” or Klaus Doldinger’s soundtrack to “Das Boot” – there are plenty of settings inspired by water and its diverse properties. Last year, the Grünwalder Forchhammer Foundation announced a composition competition for symphonic wind orchestras, which added a special variant of this very special element: “Hydropower – The Power of Water” was the theme that served as a source of inspiration for young composers from Bavaria , Baden-Württemberg and Upper Austria should serve. This Friday, June 24, not only will the foundation, which was founded in 2020, present itself to the public for the first time, but the three prize winners of the competition will also be awarded in the multi-purpose hall of the Grünwald amusement park – and their works will be premiered by the symphonic wind orchestra of the Niederwaldkirchen music association.
“All the submitted works were well done. But the three were outstanding,” says Bernhard Ullrich. The renowned Grünwalder jazz clarinetist and musical director of the orchestra Hugo Strasser was part of the expert jury – alongside Harald Haselmayr, composer and long-time conductor of the police band in Upper Austria, as well as the composer, arranger and wind music producer Wolfgang Vetter.
In addition to art and culture, the foundation is also dedicated to monument protection
Peter Diesenberger’s “River Stories”, Patrick Egge’s “Mimirs Brunnen” and Julien Meisenzahl’s “The Tide Rises, the Tide Falls” will be heard. Ullrich promises atmospheric, magical sounds, as well as percussive, modern elements, without exceeding the atonal, overly experimental boundaries.
The composition theme was of course not chosen without consideration: The Forchhammer Foundation, named after Florian Forchhammer from Grünwald, who died in 2019, is dedicated to the promotion of art, culture and monument protection and is primarily active in southern Germany and Upper Austria. Through the operation of the listed hydroelectric power plant Stallegg, it has a close connection to the “cultural asset hydropower”. Ullrich’s wife Odette Ullrich, lawyer, and entrepreneur Christoph Wagner form the board of directors of the non-profit foundation. Both will present the foundation and its goals on Friday.
The Hugo Strasser Orchestra will provide the music for the second part of the evening. For Bernhard Ullrich, who has been the principal clarinetist of the well-known dance music ensemble since 2016 and has directed it since the 2019/20 season, this is a special performance for several reasons: “For me as a resident of Grünwald, it’s a home game, but the orchestra is, as far as I can knows, never performed in Grünwald.” In addition, for the ensemble, which is often described as “legendary”, and which was founded by Hugo Strasser, who died in 2016, it is one of the first major performances after a long break caused by the pandemic. Especially as a swing and dance music orchestra, which also plays at many big balls, there has been almost nothing to do in the past two and a half years – the risk of infection at such events was simply too great. The exception was a streaming concert in 2021 from the Deutsches Theater in Munich. “It’s now an opportunity for us to show that we’re still alive,” said Ullrich, looking forward to returning.
The founder and namesake Florian Forchhammer came from a Munich family of entrepreneurs. He shared his parents’ passion for old art and antiques as an art dealer. He also built and operated hydroelectric power plants in Austria and Germany. He died in February 2019 at the age of 54. In his will, he laid down the founding of the Forchhammer Foundation as the testator and founder. After renovations, his villa in Grünwald will function as a museum.
The ceremony on Friday, June 24, begins at 7 p.m. Admission is free, donations and registration (https://www.forchhammer-stiftung.de) is asked.