Café George

Did you miss the talk concert Partimento – "Allerley Sachen aus einem schlichten General-Baß" with Christian Rieger the day before? Then you should definitely come to Café George (again in the canteen of the New Town Hall) at 3 pm! There, the internationally sought-after virtuoso and professor for historical keyboard instruments at the Folkwang University of the Arts will once again do the honours. The traditionally close ties between the Göttingen International Handel Festival and academia: here they come together in one person. An afternoon especially for purist connoisseurs? Or, on the contrary, is it precisely the focused view of the essentials that opens up surprisingly clear vistas of new horizons? Let us surprise you!

Café George is a one-stop shop: piece by piece, Jochen Schäfsmeier guides the listener through the concert while coffee and cake are served. A congenial setting, entirely in the style of Leipzig’s Café Zimmermann. From 1723 until the death of its namesake Gottfried Zimmermann in 1741, performances of the Collegium Musicum, which Georg Philipp Telemann founded at the beginning of the 18th century, were held there. None other than Johann Sebastian Bach led this ensemble between 1729 and 1739 and performed many of his secular cantatas and instrumental pieces in Zimmermann’s Caffe-Hauß. Café George also boasts a number of noteworthy names and is worth a visit for sure. Check it out!