Lydia Rilling: Komponieren ohne Partitur

Experience says: The longer a festival, ensemble, or institution exists, the greater the danger of becoming contentedly arbitrary. The question of what constitutes the significance of an institution like the Donaueschingen Music Days, which has grown over such a long period, is often answered too quickly by referring to its long history, or more soberly put: by the fact that it still exists at all. However, tradition and history only tell us how we became the people we are today. They do not say anything about what the present needs.