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Thomaskirche in Leipzig

For almost 3 years I have not been able to see family and friends in Germany, and it is a big question mark if it can happen this year… In my story from yesterday there is not much nostalgia but rather the excitement to meet a fervent Johann Sebastian Bach expert and musician from Japan. Many years ago, I met a Japanese woman who studied all about Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in Weimar, the famous town of Goethe, Schiller und Bauhaus. These encounters always tickle and excite me. The “foreigner” offers new understanding to the traditions of another culture or country. They bring their curiosity and their own old traditions to marry it all into new life and meaning. These days I sense the fateful weight of me emigrating 40 years ago. I am now a foreigner both here and there. This suspension keeps me alert to things that others take for granted. It suits my curiosity and artistic bent.

When I go back, I make sure to hear concerts in old churches. It’s like tasting the most sublime “food.” Attending the Bachfest three years ago, I heard fabulous concerts in the Nikolaikirche (Jordi Savall, Musikalisches Opfer) and in the Thomaskirche. All that I cherish weaves itself together here: architecture, empty space, spirit, resonance, music, silence, beauty, community, culture old and new. And you can almost glimpse it in my photo.  


Ceiling of the Thomaskirche in Leipzig where Bach was Kapellmeister from 1723 – 1750 


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