2024 Musikfest Prize presented to René Jacobs

On Thursday, 5 September, the Belgian conductor René Jacobs was honoured with the Musikfest Prize.

After an acclaimed performance of Beethoven's Missa solemnis under his baton with the B'Rock Orchestra and the Zürcher Sing-Akademie & soloists in Verden Cathedral, the festival and the Verden Friends of Musikfest Bremen hosted a private reception in the Domherrenhaus. There, René Jacobs received the award in the presence of his wife.
After a welcoming address by Alexander Homann, Counsellor and General Representative of East Belgium, the Federation of Wallonia-Brussels and Wallonia at the Belgian embassy in Berlin, Musikfest Artistic Director Prof. Thomas Albert gave the laudatory speech. In it, he told the assembled guests that he had become acquainted with René Jacobs before he began his illustrious career as a conductor. As a very young musician, he had already met Jacobs several times at the spectacular productions, concerts and international masterclasses in Bremen, which started in 1974, when Jacobs was still performing as a countertenor. He then presented the artist with the Musikfest prize, a hand-cast “Orpheus” bronze by Bremen sculptor Bernd Altenstein. The artist thanked him and briefly and succinctly emphasised his philosophy on the indispensable role of music in life with the Latin saying “Sine musica nulla vita, sine vita nulla musica” - to which there is nothing left to add!