Last weekend, there was a lot of music in the Streets of Nuremberg, as my city was hosting the Bavarian Trombone Choir Festival 2022. Instruments of course are not limited to trombones, the choirs use all imaginable brass instruments. With a turnout of about 2.500 players from Bavaria and beyond, Nuremberg’s Old Town turned into the stage for a gigantic brass festival. For a visual tour of the event, continue after the jump ….
Who would have thought. These days I’m constantly being out and about with the camera, heading from one event to another. Too busy to still find frequently time to edit, post-process and turning the results into a blog post. Not so good for the blogger, but really good for the photographer. Last weekend Nuremberg hosted the 2022 Festival of the Bavarian Trombone Choirs. A massive event, with 2.500 players.
The motto for the weekend was “For heaven’s sake”. This, by no means, refers to the size of the resulting body of sound. Trombone choirs love making music in such large groups. More over, the motto reflects the fact that brass players see themselves as lively and invigorating groups of their church (almost exclusively Lutheran) congregations and want to bring a bit of heavenly atmosphere to the people with their sounds. And for sure, the players from several hundred choirs made the streets of Nuremberg properly resound.
The contagious enthusiasm of the musicians was visible everywhere, not only in the small performances of the individual choirs across the old town, but also when they all played together in the massive joint concerts on the main square.
Not only was I roaming the festival with a camera in my hands for the pure photographic fun of it, but for a much more personal reason, as The Significant Other as well as some good friends were also participants, being members of our local trombone choir.
A real highlight was the Serenade evening concert of the full choir on the town square. I was sitting in the middle of the players, and got the full sound experience from two and a half thousand brass instruments. While the sky was covered with heavy clouds, only a few raindrops fell towards the end of the performance.
Another highlight of the festival was the joint performance of one of Germany’s most famous boys choir, the Windsbacher Knabenchor, together with the Bavarian youth brass choir. It was great concert in beautiful St. Sebald church in the heart of Nuremberg’s Old Town.
The main event was the celebration of Sunday mass on the main square. Four conductors, standing on scaffolding, handled the huge trombone choir. The sound filling the square was truly magnificent!
It was a truly memorable event for everyone. Not only had I so much joy listening to brass music, but also a lot of fun doing a different kind of street photography this weekend. As the Leica was (and still is) in the repair-shop, I reverted back to a mix of iPhoneography with my iPhone 12 Pro Max and using my trusted Olympus OM-D E-M1X with the mZuiko 12-100 F/4. Postprocessing was done in Lightroom Classic.
I hope you enjoyed this visual tour of the brass festival on the streets of Nuremberg.
Have a great Monday
Marcus
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Loved all the reflections in the instruments.
Thanks, Cornelia, glad you enjoyed the post!
What a splendid event to witness Marcus and so lovely to read that your wife was part of the trombone choir. Enjoy your summer.
Thanks, Marion, appreciate your kind words! Marcus
Oh, brilliant set of images of a very lively event…I can almost hear the music from here
Thanks, Sue, appreciate your kind words so much! Marcus
You’re welcome!
what amazing and fascinating reflections on the brass instruments!
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Thanks so much for your kind words, glad you liked the photos!
Wow Marcus, what a great time! Be well!
Thanks, John, much appreciated!
You are welcome!
Fabulous images Marcus and the reflections of musicians, town scenes and skyscapes in the instruments are especially beautiful!
Thanks so much for your kind words, highly appreciated! Marcus
How cool is this to focus on one instrument and all its glory! I love your photos, close-ups but with people, too. Thanks for sharing what I hope continues to be a tradition.
Thanks so much, glad you liked the post! The traditions will cary on, as it did for almost 100 years already.
Goodness, Leica sure is taking its time with your camera repair. I wonder if there’s just a big backlog of broken expensive cameras sitting on their benches? I hope you get yours back soon.
I’ll admit, the idea of sitting amongst 2500 brass instruments strikes fear in my heart, as I’m not a huge fan of brass (though I frickin’ love Chicago)… but I’m sure the pleasure comes between the idea and the reality.
I love these photos of the players in the bell of their neighbor’s instruments. Top notch iPhonography, sir.
Thanks for taking the time to read and comment, Matt, so much appreciated!
What a marvelous gallery, Marcus. Your photos portray the excitement and scope of this event. The image of the young girl assisting in the directing is priceless. As a former trombonist, I enjoyed the plethora of shots of slides and bells.
Thanks so much for your kind words! How great you were a trombonist as well.