Concert for and with Maria Kalesnikava

Friday, April 10, 2026

STUTTGART

7 p.m.

Concert Hall of the HMDK Stuttgart
Urbanstraße 25
70182 Stuttgart

Free admission, reservation recommended

Maria Kalesnikava lived in Stuttgart for 12 years, during which time she contributed to the development of SKAM as a member of its board. Following her studies, she pursued a career as a flutist and cultural manager for many years, before becoming a prominent figure in the Belarusian democracy movement in 2020. Her commitment to freedom, the rule of law and social responsibility resulted in her imprisonment and a lengthy prison sentence.

We are therefore extremely grateful and honoured to announce that Maria Kalesnikava will be making her artistic comeback on stage at this concert. This concert is therefore not only a sign of solidarity, but also a poignant homecoming – back to the place where she received her artistic training, and to an institution that has had a lasting influence on her.

“Sounds of Freedom” is a musical celebration of the power of art to build bridges and inspire hope. Artists from institutions such as SKAM and InterAKT, as well as teachers and students from the HMDK, will come together to create an evening that celebrates humanistic values and artistic excellence.

Following the concert, the HMDK cordially invites you to a reception, which will provide an opportunity for personal interaction.

With welcoming remarks by:

Petra Olschowski, Minister of Science, Research, and the Arts
Marc Gegenfurtner, Head of the Cultural Office of the City of Stuttgart
Christine Fischer, Artistic Director of Musik der Jahrhunderte, Artistic Director of the ECLAT Contemporary Music Festival

Music by:

Konstantin Yaskov, Nikola Lutz, Mayke Nas, Matthias Hermann, and others.

Performed by:

Trio vis-á-vis (Natasha López, Hugo Rannou, Maria Kalesnikava), Viktoriia Vitrenko, Remmy Canedo, Nikola Lutz, Klaus Dreher, Tamara Kurkiewicz, and others.

Reservation: Simone Haas simone.haas@hmdk-stuttgart.de

Cooperating:

Solidarity with Maria Kalesnikava

Monday, November 3, 2025

STUTTGART

9:00 p.m.

Theater Rampe
Rakete
Filderstrasse 47
70180 Stuttgart

Free admission

Maria Kalesnikava, founder of the Stuttgart cultural association INTERAKT, is imprisoned as a political prisoner in Belarus. The evening will be organized by her companions in Stuttgart and will include a conversation with Olga Bubich, a Belarusian essayist currently living in exile in Berlin. She will talk about common myths about Belarus that she encounters in Germany:

How much do we know and how much do we not know about our closest Eastern European neighbor? How do we imagine its history, its linguistic and political situation? To what extent do we rely on memories of the Soviet past and fragmentary media reports to form a picture of who the Belarusians are? Olga shares her experiences and impressions and presents facts and statistics from Belarus' past and present.

Olga Bubich (Belarus/Germany) is an essayist focusing on research into collective memory and Europe's traumatic past, a visual artist with two published photo books, and a lecturer with over 15 years of teaching experience.

With contributions from:

Yauhenia Dougaya

Nikola Lutz

Natasha López

Viktoriia Vitrenko

Thursday, 12/05/2024

STUTTGART

5 pm

HMDK Stuttgart
OPR / Wandelhalle level 8
Urbanstrasse 25
70187 Stuttgart

with

Nikola Lutz - installation
Duo YonX, Lukax Santana - excerpts from zek #3
Contributions by students
Speeches

Nikola Lutz, professor of saxophone at the HMDK and Kalesnikava's colleague in the Stuttgarter Kollektiv für aktuelle Musik e.V., has been working continuously since Kalesnikava's arrest to keep her memory alive. The HMDK Stuttgart has now had two showcases designed by Prof. Nikola Lutz, which represent Kalesnikava's fate on the premises of the HMDK and bring it to the attention of future generations.

The installation also allows students to interactively engage with Maria Kalesnikava, her courage and her fate. During the interdisciplinary project week with the ABK Stuttgart under the direction of Prof. Nikola Lutz and Prof. Britta Wirthmüller, artistic contributions will be developed. The already existing petition “Freedom for Maria Kalesnikava #FreeMaria”, which already has more than 56.000 signatures, will also be brought back to the center of attention:

www.change.org/p/freiheit-für-maria-kalesnikava-freemaria-heikomaas-europarl-de-ep-president-vonderleyen

At the opening of the exhibition, Nikola Lutz, together with the Chilean musicians Lukax Santana and César Bernal, will present excerpts from the program “zek #3”, which deals with texts by Maxim Znak, who as Kalesnikava's lawyer was also sentenced to 12 years in prison.