Portrait: Juan Allende-Blin in Leipzig
Juan Allende-Blins biography reflects the turbulent history of the 20th and 21st centuries. In 1951, he came to Germany on the recommendation of conductor Hermann Scherchen, studied in Detmold, and developed his compositional musical language from the tradition of the New Viennese School. His works are characterized by an extremely precise use of timbres and extended instrumental techniques. Construction and sensuality form a unity in his music.
His commitment to ostracized and forgotten music is remarkable. In 1966, he organized the first comprehensive Schoenberg Week at NDR Hamburg, and in 1989, the symposium “Besuch aus dem Exil” (Visit from Exile) in Essen. As a rediscoverer of lost works, he reconstructed Claude Debussy's opera fragment “La Chute de la Maison Usher,” which premiered in 1977 under Eliahu Inbal. For his artistic and social commitment, he received the Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon and, in 2018, the Chilean National Prize for Music Art.
Influenced by early encounters with émigré artists such as Artur Rubinstein and Rudolf Kolisch in his parents' house in Santiago, as well as his decades-long partnership with organist Gerd Zacher, who premiered works by Bussotti, Schnebel, Yun, and Kagel, Allende-Blin consistently combines aesthetic innovation with moral stance in his oeuvre.
Four concerts in Leipzig
The festival presents Juan Allende-Blins' multifaceted work in four distinct programs. The festival kicks off on Sunday, October 12, at the Museum of Ethnology with radiophonic works and sound collages. Admission is free to the matinee at 11 a.m., which will feature the current radio plays “Monolog / Dialog” (2023, Deutschlandfunk Kultur) based on texts by Jorge Semprún and Samuel Beckett, and “Nachtgesänge” (2021, SWR) based on a text by Alfred Lichtenstein, accompanied by Niels Herrmann's short film about the composer.
The piano recital on Monday, October 13, at 7:30 p.m. in the historic Grieg Meeting Place (soloist: Ermis Theodorakis) spans a biographical arc from the early “Sonatine pour piano” (1949/50) to “Espace du temps” (2005). The highlight is the half-hour “Dialogue” for piano with two players. (Advance ticket sales)
The ensemble concert on Tuesday, October 14, at the Musical Instrument Museum features the renowned ensemble mosaik and baritone Carlo Zaccaria Schmitz, with the cantata “por el cielo vacío” (2023/24) based on Federico García Lorca at the center of the program. The work is an artistic exploration of the Spanish poet, who was murdered in 1936, whose poetry Allende-Blin had already encountered as a child through the writer Augusto d'Halmar. (Advance ticket sales)
Finally, on Wednesday, October 15, the composer and students of the Leipzig University of Music and Theater will work on organ works under the direction of university organist Daniel Beilschmidt. The presentation of the workshop will take place at 7:30 p.m. in St. Thomas Church. Admission is free.
A brief overview of the events
Sunday, October 12, 2025, 11:00 a.m.
Audio pieces and short film GRASSI Museum of Ethnology in Leipzig, free admission
Monday, October 13, 2025, 7:30 p.m.
Piano works with Ermis Theodorakis
Grieg-Begegnungsstätte Leipzig, admission €15 / €10
https://www.eventim-light.com/de/a/66aa07ee658cb326d37b748b/e/6897478f1d2a3e30aa61a623
Tuesday, October 14, 2025, 7:30 p.m.
Ensemble works with the ensemble mosaik and baritone Carlo Zaccaria Schmitz
Music Instrument Museum of the University of Leipzig in Grassi, admission €15 / €10
https://www.eventim-light.com/de/a/66aa07ee658cb326d37b748b/e/689749e94451ed23a932397a
Wednesday, October 15, 2025, 7:30 p.m.
Organ works with students from the HMT Leipzig Thomaskirche zu Leipzig, free admission
(An event organized by the HMT Leipzig. Use of the Thomaskirche is made possible by forma Leipzig e.V.)