23. June 2026 | Press releases:

Fire, Funk and A Midsummer Night’s Dream End-of-semester concerts at TU Braunschweig

As the semester draws to a close, music once again takes centre stage at Technische Universität Braunschweig. With their traditional end-of-semester concerts, the big band, choir and orchestra invite you to a varied summer of concerts. The choir explores the fascination of the element of fire, the Big Band brings summery energy to the stage with jazz and funk, whilst the University Orchestra ventures a symphonic interpretation of Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’.

TU Big Band Semester Concerts

In its summer semester concert, the TU Big Band, conducted by Robert Dörfer, will present well-known classics by Stevie Wonder alongside lively jazz by Bob Mintzer and Peter Herbolzheimer, as well as cool funk.

  • Tuesday, 30 June, 8.00 pm
  • Saturday, 4 July, 6.00 pm

at the Haus der Wissenschaft, Aula, Pockelsstraße 11, 38106 Braunschweig. Admission is free.

‘FYRE! FYRE!’ – Songs of fire, ash and burning emotions with the TU Braunschweig Choir

In three end-of-semester concerts, the TU Braunschweig Choir, conducted by Johannes Höing, explores the element of fire. The programme features numerous contemporary works:

The audience encounters fire in all its elemental and overwhelming power in Katerina Gimon’s work ‘Fire’ (Canada, 2018), featuring spoken word, body percussion and rhythmic loops. Fire as a symbol of hope and spiritual enlightenment takes centre stage in Darius Lim’s ‘Fire of Hope’ (Singapore, 2023).

The programme also features ‘Am Kamin’, a composition by choir member Moritz König, written especially for this concert series in 2026.

Things take on a mystical and mysterious air with Hugo Distler’s setting of Mörike’s famous ballad ‘Der Feuerreiter’ for six-part choir. As an expression of human passion and emotion, the motif of fire also appears in 16th-century works by Thomas Morley and Hans Leo Hassler.

The programme is rounded off with well-known pop classics such as ‘Eternal Flame’ by The Bangles, Ed Sheeran’s ‘I See Fire’ and Johnny Cash’s ‘Ring of Fire’.

  • Saturday, 4 July, 5.00 pm at Emmauskirche Weststadt, Muldeweg 5, 38120 Braunschweig
  • Sunday, 5 July, 6.00 pm at St Andreas Church, An der Andreaskirche 1, 38100 Braunschweig
  • Tuesday, 7 July, 8.00 pm in the Audimax at TU Braunschweig, Universitätsplatz 3, 38106 Braunschweig

Admission is free. The choir will be collecting donations at the exit.

 

‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream – A Symphonic Comedy of Errors’ by the TU Orchestra

William Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ is a universal classic. But let’s be honest: who could retell the story of this comedy? Who could keep track of the multitude of characters and plotlines? And who ends up marrying whom? Do the right people find each other? And who is actually dreaming which dream? Drawing on expertise in depth psychology, the TU Braunschweig Orchestra, conducted by Markus Lüdke, ventures into a symphonic interpretation of the dream. None other than Sigmund Freud (played by actor Götz van Ooyen) stands by the ensemble’s side.

And the orchestra turns to the music for guidance. They begin with Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, but then shift their perspective time and again. For Benjamin Britten, Antonín Dvořák, Meike Katrin Stein, Carl Maria von Weber, Alfred Schnittke and Sergei Prokofiev also offer profound insights.

  • Saturday, 11 July, 7.00 pm
  • Sunday, 12 July, 7.00 pm
  • Tuesday, 14 July, 7.00 pm

in the Audimax at Technische Universität Braunschweig, Universitätsplatz 3, 38106 Braunschweig. Admission is free. Tickets will be issued one hour before the start of each concert.

Programme

  • Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809 – 1847): A Midsummer Night’s Dream 21 & 61 (1826/1842 – 1843), incidental music to William Shakespeare’s comedy, including: Overture – Fairy March – Intermezzo – Notturno – Fanfare – Marcia funebre – A Dance of the Ruffians
  • Benjamin Britten (1913 – 1976): The Wood (1960) from the opera A Midsummer Night’s Dream 64
  • Carl Maria von Weber (1786 – 1826): Overture to the opera Oberon (1826) for orchestra
  • Meike Katrin Stein (b. 1991): Blech und Schabernack (2026), world premiere of the commissioned composition for the character Puck from Shakespeare’s ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’
  • Alfred Schnittke (1934–1998): (K)ein Sommernachtstraum (1984) for large orchestra
  • Erik Satie (1866 – 1925): Cinq Grimaces pour le Songe d’une nuit d’été (1915) for orchestra
  • Antonín Dvořák (1841 – 1904): Festive March in C major, Op. 54, B88 (1879). Concert March for orchestra, composed at the suggestion of the Bohemian National Theatre for a performance of ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’ to mark the visit of the Austrian Emperor and his consort to Prague to celebrate their silver wedding anniversary
  • Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953): Romeo and Juliet (1935–36) from the ballet of the same name, Op. 64, for orchestra
  • Amy Beach (1867–1944): Through the House Give Glimmering Light (1897) from the Three Shakespeare Choruses, No. 39