Cultural church festival and choir festival
Event information
Date & Time
entrance free
ATTENTION: The Cultural Church Festival will not take place at the Garage Campus, but in the city centre of Chemnitz.
As the highlight of Kulturkirche 2025, the festival brings together people from different generations, denominations and backgrounds. Chemnitz city centre will become a place of diversity, togetherness and inspiration. The festival begins on Saturday at 10 a.m. on the stage in Stadthallenpark with guests from Slovenia. Afterwards, visitors can expect a varied programme in addition to a church mile with stands, hands-on activities and performances:
Music that unites
A large choir festival will bring sounds from Europe and the Capital of Culture region to the city. The highlight is the joint singing of all choirs at 3.00 pm on the Neumarkt accompanied by the Elblandphilharmonie. For families, the musical "Albert Schweitzer" will take place in the Stadthallenpark at 1.30 pm. On Saturday evening, numerous musicians and songwriters invite you to concerts: Kronstädter Messe with a choir from Transylvania, Stilbruch, Samuel Rösch, Gerhard Schöne, Like Mint, Louisa Vogel, Klezmeresque, Crescendo (classical improvisation) and many more - on stages in the city centre, in churches or open air.
Discuss, think along, exchange ideas
On stages, sofas and in open forums, the focus will be on pressing issues of our time, including the "Sachsensofa" on the topic of "Strengthening children by law", AI and digitalisation, peace ethics, the need for religious education and the question of how the Ore Mountains believe.
Programme (excerpt):
10:00 a.m. - Opening with guests from Italy/Slovenia and welcoming speeches by Stefan Schmidtke, programme director of Chemnitz 2025 European Capital of Culture, and Alexander Ochs, curator of Purple Path, among others.
Stage: Stadthallenpark
11:00 a.m. - Panel discussion with Protestant and Catholic regional bishops Tobias Bilz and Heinrich Timmerevers, artist Isabelle Borges, Purple Path curator Alexander Ochs and Dr Ulrike Lynn on the role of the church in postmodern society.
Stage: Stadthallenpark
10:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.
- Church mile in the city centre and Festival of Hope at the Red Tower with information stands, hands-on activities and cabaret performances for the whole family.
- Topics and discussions on current and relevant issues.
- Opportunities for prayer, Bible study and quiet reflection.
1:30 p.m. - ‘Hey Helene! Let's go Lambarene’ - Family musical about Albert Schweitzer.
Stage: Stadthallenpark
3:00 p.m. - 1,500 choir voices accompanied by the Elbland Philharmonic Orchestra
Stage: Neumarkt
4:15 p.m. to 5:45 p.m. - Saxony Sofa: Empowering children through legislation
Moderated by: Protestant and Catholic academies in cooperation with Sachsenfernsehen
Stage: Stadthallenpark
6:15 p.m. and 8:15 p.m. - Concerts ranging from klezmer to jazz, from singer-songwriters to cabaret
City centre
7:00 p.m. - Choir festival: Kronstadt Mass
Project choir from Romania and Chemnitz
St. Peter's Church
