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Leipzig's radio play summer begins: A feast for the ears and hearts!
Experience the Leipzig Radio Play Summer 2025 with family programs, competitions and exciting performances in the Richard-Wagner-Hain.
Leipzig's radio play summer begins: A feast for the ears and hearts!
This year, the Leipzig Radio Play Summer also brings a varied program for young and old. The festival begins on Wednesday afternoon with a family program that primarily revolves around the topic of inclusion. Particularly noteworthy is the inclusion of sign language for the first time during the “wake-up call” on Thursday morning. In the evening, the winning piece of the Günter Eich Prize 2024, “Cyfre or: Heads and Tails”, will be presented, which deals with the human need to measure everything in numbers. MDR reports that the festival offers a variety of events, including radio plays, live radio plays for different age groups, four competitions and workshops. Visitors are invited to bring their picnic blankets or lounge chairs and enjoy the open-air event in the Richard Wagner Grove.
The event format, which is being organized this year by the Hörspielsommer e.V. association, also includes close collaboration with the radio play makers. This manifestation of creativity is particularly important since the city of Leipzig has frozen cultural project funding, which is leading to financial uncertainty for the association. Currently, around a third of the budget is missing, which is why the organizational team is trying to raise donations and save on program costs.
The program in detail
Among the highlights of the festival, the Friday evening program “Lust for Life” stands out, which includes pieces about icons such as Iggy Pop. The musician and director Kai-Uwe Kohlschmidt is expected to present his radio play about the band Sando. Leipziger Medienstiftung highlights that the Günter Eich Prize, which was established in 2007, this year the authors Katharina Bihler and Stefan Scheib from Liquid Penguin Ensemble. Their works will also be performed during the festival and take a central place in the supporting program.
The Leipzig Radio Play Summer, first held in 2003, has established itself as an important forum for radio play art. This year the festival takes place between July 10th and 14th and all events are free to access. Given the current challenges, the organizers are optimistic about the future and hope that the city will soon pay out the outstanding project funds in order to continue to support Leipzig's cultural diversity.