Our History
Chronology of Locations
InterHarmony International Music Festival remains one of the only festivals of its kind to move around the world. Many students and artists-in-residence end up traveling to all the locations and spending nearly 6 weeks at the festivals. IIMF plans to have Session I and Two in Acqui Terme, Piedmont, Italy from July 4 - 16, 2023 and July 18 - 30, 2023.
InterHarmony International Music Festival was conceptualized in 1997, when Misha Quint started his first International Music Festival in Blonay, Switzerland. This festival, Intensive Cello Studies Abroad, was held at the Hindemith Foundation in Chalet de la Croix, Le Chenit, Switzerland. Quint then opened the Soesterberg International Music Festival in Soesterberg, The Netherlands in 1998.
This successful festival lasted for 10 years. The name "InterHarmony" was born in 2000 in Soesterberg, and InterHarmony International Music Festival in 2000 in Geneva, Switzerland was the first to bear this name. Some locations, such as Soesterberg and Sulzbach-Rosenberg also retained the location name within the city as a subnomen of InterHarmony.
The Sulzbach-Rosenberg International Music Festival opened in 2005, and the Hinterzarten, Germany locale in the Black Forest region was held from 2008 – 2011. There were two locations in the United States: The Berskshires, Massachusetts from 2007- 2008, the location of Tanglewood, and San Francisco, California, at San Francisco State University in 2009. InterHarmony in a medieval town in Tuscany, Italy, ran from 2012-2016.
InterHarmony International Music Festival Online
2023 will be the 3rd season of InterHarmony International Music Festival Online. InterHarmony created its online festival in 2021 when travel was not possible with great success with only 2 weeks notice. InterHarmony Online was so successful that IIMF plans to continue the online festival each year. It brings a new kind of intensive learning experience for classical musicians with performance master classes, musical seminars with internationally-renowned musicians, cooking seminars and language classes. InterHarmony has perfected the online platform throughout the year with the first ever online music conservatory, the InterHarmony International School of Music Online.
More about InterHarmony in Acqui Terme, Province of Alessandria, Piedmont, Italy
Drawn to Acqui Terme because of its rich history, lively location, and cultural predilection, InterHarmony is excited to announce its 6th Anniversary in its Italian location for the summer of 2023: Acqui Terme, Province of Alessandria, Piedmont, Italy. Pianos fill every corner and the sounds can be heard from the concert hall in Chiesa dell'Addolorata, the Paleologi Castle, Chiesa Santo Spirito, the concert hall in Hotel La Meridiana, and from the town's schools. The Piedmont region is famed for its sumptuous, French-inspired, Italian cuisine and award-wining red wine vinyards.
The Liguri Statilelli settled there in the proto-historic age, and founded the centre of Carystum, which was later conquered and destroyed in 173 B.C. by the Roman army, lead by Marco Popilio Lenate. The conquest led to a progressive Romanization of the territory and its inhabitants and to the birth of Acquae Statiellae, in the area of the thermal springs.
The natural hotsprings of Acqui Terme caused it to be a flourishing spa town between the triangle formed by Turin, Milano, and Genova. Senaca, Strabo, Tacitus, and Pliny wrote of Acqui Terme as “founded among waters”. Historical highlights include the consecration of the Duomo (Cattedrale di Santa Maria Assunta) in 1067 by Bishop Saint Guido, participation in the crusades, and the visit of Napoleon in 1796. Acqui Terme is strewn with Roman ruins, such as the aqueduct, the amphitheater, baths, and artisan center recently unearthed, as well as monuments like the Duomo(1067), Paleologi Castle (1056) and Archeology Museum, Basilica di San Pietro (1100’s), Chiesa di San Francisco (1600), Porta della Bollente, etc.
More about the Sulzbach-Rosenberg Internationanl Music Festival (SRIMF)
After the Soesterberg festival, Misha Quint had a tour of concerts in Germany, and one performance was in Erlangen, near Sulzbach-Rosenberg, Bavaria. As a result, Christl-Pelikan Geisman, Quint's longtime friend, invited him to play another sold-out concert in Sulzbach-Rosenberg that got accolades from the press. It was love at first sight when Quint saw Sulzbach-Rosenberg, and the mayor of that time, Mayor Gerd Geismann, offered to host the first Sulzbach-Rosenberg International Music Festival.
2023 will be the 15th Anniversary of the Sulzbach-Rosenberg International Music Festival (abbreviated by "SRIMF" by locals) , which has become a big attraction for the students and the local audiences. In addition to the intensity of InterHarmony in musical studies for aspiring musicians, the people of Sulzbach-Rosenberg and their enthusiasm for classical music and the festival are what make this session of InterHarmony so unique.
Students will get to know Christl Pelikan-Geismann, called the "Mother of SRIMF", originally by local newspapers, and then adopted by everyone else. Her toil and perseverance are what helps this festival to prosper on the Germany side.
Settlements in Sulzbach-Rosenberg have existed since the 8th century, when Sulzbach Castle was built. Sulzbach-Rosenberg has a long history, from the time of feudal lords until it became the capital "New Bohemia" under Emperor Karl IV to the time of the Wittelsbach dynasty. In addition to its hardy cuisine, sights include the Gothic City Hall (Raathaus), built in 1446, Sulzbach Castle, the parish church (Katholische Stadtpfarrkirche St. Marien, built in 1355, the city walls from 1300, among others.
More about the Sulzbach-Rosenberg International Music Festival (SRIMF) »
InterHarmony Concert Series at Weill Recital Hall
Presented by InterHarmony International Music Festival
InterHarmony International Music Festival, which has been taking place in various European and American cities for the past 18 summers, presents its 10th Anniversary Season in a series of three concerts at Weill Recital Hall studded with an array of musical highlights from the Festival. The concerts take place at the Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall. Some students and renowned faculty members perform either solo or chamber music. This tradition began in 2012, when we had a performance at the German Consulate General in NYC, and now continues in New York's famous Carnegie Hall. We hope to continue to provide more opportunities for InterHarmony alumni in the future. Visit past events to see our past concerts, and upcoming events to see future concerts.
