The anniversary program includes works from four centuries which will echo through the historic brick vault with granite columns of the Mendelssohn-Remise at Gendarmenmarkt.

Berlin strollers, music enthusiasts and history buffs can experience the city, its history, and its arts through five live concerts in five days.

The highlight of the program is the performance of “The Quartet for the End of Time” by Olivier Messiaen, which was composed in 1941 in a war camp prison near Görlitz and rehearsed under the bleak conditions of the camp’s washrooms.

Characterized by deadly seriousness and faith-filled hope, the artistic message of the music piece lives on to respond to the political events of 2024.

During the five days of the festival, visitors will hear sounds of violine, clavier and violoncello in the performances of music duos, quartets, and quintets which have played all over the world.

The opening concert on the 16th of August will feature a performance on Irish harp by Siobhán Armstrong who is the founder and chair of the Irish Historical Harp Society.

“The Last Rose of Summer” is part of the Germany-wide cultural season “Zeitgeist Ireland 24”.

The concerts pay tribute to the genius loci of the headquarters of Mendelssohn & Co, where the bankers' virtuoso house music performances had previously taken place in the music room. In 1938, the bank was “aryanized” under pressure from the Nazi authorities.

Today, the Mendelssohn house is turned into a music oasis where visitors can enjoy the sounds of history and time.

Tickets can be purchased at www.bit.ly/lastrose2024 and more information about the program is available at www.bit.ly/festival-remise.

The directors of the festival are two famous musicians: Icelandic-American Violinist Judith Ingolfsson and the French Pianist Vladimir Stoupel.

The event is sponsored by the Embassy of Iceland, supported by Guy Oppenheim.

• - https://www.mendelssohn-gesellschaft.de/en/gesellschaft/festivals