Sounds of Hollywood — Open Air at Querfurt Castle

Sounds of Hollywood — Film Music in a Medieval Setting

Querfurt in the Saalekreis district is one of those small towns in Saxony-Anhalt that carry their greatest attraction on top of the hill. Querfurt Castle — seven times the size of Wartburg Castle, according to the often-quoted comparison — is considered one of the most significant and oldest castle complexes in Central Germany. Romanesque castle church, Parisian Tower, Torture Tower, and in between, a spacious courtyard. It is precisely this courtyard that becomes an open-air concert hall once a year.

Sounds of Hollywood follows a simple concept: a classical orchestra — for years, the Vogtland Philharmonie from Reichenbach — plays a program from film music history under the open sky. The most famous scenes are projected synchronously onto a large screen. The spectrum ranges from John Williams to Ennio Morricone to Hans Zimmer and Klaus Doldinger, supplemented by German productions such as 'Der Medicus' or 'Die Päpstin'. The Querfurt Castle Music School opens each year as a youth brass band.

Querfurt Castle as a Stage

The appeal of this format lies in the interplay of sound and architecture. The Romanesque walls reflect the orchestral sound, the large screen contrasts with the medieval backdrop, and the audience sits in seated rows in the courtyard or picnics in the castle garden. The concert is organized by Querfurt Castle in cooperation with the Saalekreis district, sponsored by Saalesparkasse and MIDEWA.

An Evening for Film Music Fans

The format has become a firm fixture in the Saxony-Anhalt open-air calendar. It is one of the few concerts in the Saalekreis district that brings a classically oriented program to a broad audience — families, film fans, classical music lovers. If you want to combine the concert with a day trip: The town of Querfurt itself is small and can be explored quickly on foot, and Naumburg and Halle (Saale) are reachable in under an hour.