The international Whitsun Conference is devoted to Wolfram von Eschenbach’s great epic Parzival. Parzival’s path, described by Wolfram in medieval imagery, can be read as the modern human being’s imaginative path of the soul to the spirit. The central questions of our life about origin, home, family, kinship, destiny, self-knowledge, loneliness and community are to be understood in this sense as stages of an initiation.
Parzival finds his way to the Grail through detours and aberrations. What is the nature and secret of the Grail, who are its antagonists, and what does the Grail tell us today? We intend to explore these questions together with speakers from Belgium, England, Germany, California, Canada and Switzerland.
During the conference we will be able to enjoy the world premiere of «Parzival & Feirefiz - A New Grail Narrative», a special intercultural project from Canada. The new and original composition is inspired by a historically and politically relevant contemporary retelling of Wolfram von Eschenbach's original Grail story, integrating various musical languages, including West African and West European traditional and classical music, represented by the drum and the violin.
In addition, all the sonatas and partitas for solo violin by Johann Sebastian Bach, interpreted by Emmanuel Vukovich, will be heard in a double concert.
We look forward to deepening our work together with you at Whitsun!
Further information about the program and the contributors in the conference flyer.
Link to the special exhibition «Striving Parzival, suffering Anfortas»