University Commemoration without Words
25 January 2023
University remembers the gun attack last year with a concert
Where words fail, music speaks: Heidelberg University commemorated the victims and those affected by 24 January 2022 with a moving performance of Gabriel Fauré’s Requiem in D minor op. 48. In remembrance of the gun attack exactly a year ago the university choir gave a memorial concert in the Great Hall of the New University, beginning with an organ prelude by Johann Sebastian Bach.
This “commemoration without words” was attended by approximately 400 people, including family members, relatives and friends of the student killed during the shooting, numerous members of the university and students, as well as state, city and police representatives. Under the baton of University Music Director Michael Sekulla, around 100 choristers from the university choir performed a moving work of mourning, consolation and hope. The soloists were Johanna Beier (soprano) and Matthias Horn (baritone), with organ accompaniment by Maria Mokhova.
“The terrible gun attack last year has not been forgotten; it will remain engraved in the memory of the university. In particular, though, I’d like to highlight the strength and community spirit displayed after the shooting,” says Prof. Dr Bernhard Eitel, Rector of Heidelberg University. “The University and the Rectorate will continue to stand by all those concerned with great sympathy and care, so that the academic community can go on shouldering the consequences of the attack on 24 January 2022 together.“
