{"id":2468,"date":"2022-09-16T00:10:47","date_gmt":"2022-09-16T00:10:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.blasmusikfest.eu\/the-festival-founder-and-head-organiser-has-passed-away\/"},"modified":"2022-09-16T00:19:29","modified_gmt":"2022-09-16T00:19:29","slug":"the-festival-founder-and-head-organiser-has-passed-away","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.blasmusikfest.eu\/en\/the-festival-founder-and-head-organiser-has-passed-away\/","title":{"rendered":"The Festival founder and head organiser has passed away."},"content":{"rendered":"

Bergmannsblasorchester loses an important figure due to the death of Stefan Richter<\/span><\/p>\n\n

The musicians of the Bergmannsblasorchester Aue-Bad Schlema mourn for their long-term executive director. After a severe illness, Stefan Richter died on April 7, 2022. Up until the end the 72 year old was an honorary chairman at the association, whose foundation he spirited in 1990. Furthermore, his name will forever be linked with the European Wind Band Festival. With the death of Stefan Richter, the music association also lost an important advocate in the city council of Aue-Bad Schlema. The thoughts of the board are with the members of his family who have our deepest condolences.<\/p>\n\n

The musicians of the Bergmannsblasorchester Aue-Bad Schlema mourn for their long-term executive director. After a severe illness, Stefan Richter died on April 7, 2022. Up until the end the 72 year old was an honorary chairman at the association, whose foundation he spirited in 1990. Furthermore, his name will forever be linked with the European Wind Band Festival. With the death of Stefan Richter, the music association also lost an important advocate in the city council of Aue-Bad Schlema. The thoughts of the board are with the members of his family who have our deepest condolences.<\/span> \n \nThomas Harnisch stands in front of the office premises of the Bergmannsblasorchester Aue-Bad Schlema and ponders. He met Stefan Richter as an apprentice in a business for mining equipment. Starting in the 1970s, they made music together in the United Brass Band of the Wismut Aue. \u201cI am the last musician here from that time\u201d , says Thomas Harnisch. He played clarinet, while Stefan Richter played the drums. From 1990 to 2018 Stefan also dictated the rhythm as the executive director. It was mainly his efforts that made it possible to transfer instruments from the band of the SDAG Wismut to the music association. His contacts with the Stadtkapelle Herrenberg in Baden-W\u00fcrttemberg helped with the foundation of the new association. \u201cStefan was already very driven and determined during the reunification,\u201c his longtime companion Thomas Harnisch remembers.<\/span> \n \nMany members of today\u2018s Bergmannsblasorchester Aue-Bad Schlema express themselves alike. Such as Dajana Schreyer who doesn\u2018t just play tenor horn but also supported Stefan Richter as a permanent employee for years. Talking about the best time in her professional life: \u201cI owe him a lot. Stefan always fought until the very end – for others, for his goals, for his ideas and his ideals.\u201d Some people say he was a stubborn man sometimes – Dajana Schreyer argues against it and pins it on his clear imaginings without which he never would have made it this far. \u201cOf course sometimes there have been huge clashes like in a thunderstorm, but afterwards there was always sunshine. Stefan never bore grudges.\u201d<\/span> \n \n\u00a0<\/p>\n\n

\u201cWhen it came to music, there were never any compromises,\u201d Ricco Bro\u00dfmann adds. He and Stefan Richter played together in the small combo of seven musicians for years. Stefan was not only the executive director of the association but also a musician with heart and soul: \u201cFor the sake of music all obstacles would get removed. Together through thick and thin, even privately.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n \n<\/p>

Even as a young man Stefan Richter played drums and not just in the brass orchestra. Gotthart Kaulfu\u00df, who was a member of the Bergmannsblasorchesters board for years, was there for the musical beginnings: \u201cWe started making dance music together as adolescents in L\u00f6\u00dfnitz.\u201d Starting at 14 years old, Stefan Richter played in different bands and combos. In 1971 at age 21 he finally joined the company band of the Wismut in Aue.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Jana Beyer, treasurer of the Bergmannsblasorchester since 2009, worked together with Stefan Richter on the board for 10 years. \u201cStefan had clear lines and ideas.\u201d He also personally raised the funds necessary for the European Wind Band Festival every year. He\u2019d been persistent. \u201cStefan didn\u2019t leave the companies until he had their assurance for support.\u201d Jana Beyer remembers. She smiles: \u201cMany said, if they threw him out the front, he\u2019d come back in through the back door. That\u2019s what he was known for.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But he also had a knack for handling the sponsors, always striking the right cord. \u201cDespite his persistence, he had the right sensitivity to individually talk to the sponsors. He always found the right words. That is why we have so many sponsors and supporters today\u201d, says Thomas Schaumberger, president of the Bergmannsblasorchester since 2009 who has been tending to the European Wind Band Festival with the board since 2019.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

It was launched by Stefan Richter in 1992, back then as Festival of Wind Music, then as International Music Festival and for more than two decades as European Wind Band Festival. His credo: \u201cmusic connects and knows no borders.\u201d By now the festival is known worldwide. Stefan Richter made it possible for bands from more than 40 nations to play in Bad Schlema, including Japan, Columbia, Australia and the USA, because he was able to plan tactically and established so many contacts. The festival made sure that his home was known all over the world. Every year on the third weekend in September Aue-Bad Schlema welcomes up to 20,000 visitors and turns the biggest city in the Ore Mountains into Europe’s capital of brass band music.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In 2002 at the International Music Fair in Frankfurt am Main, the Bergmannsblasorchester was honoured as the \u201cfederal victor and first prize winner for innovative, modern and voluntary dedicated association work\u201d on that account. Stefan Richter himself as the inventor of the European Wind Band Festival was honoured with an Order of Merit from the Federal Republic of Germany in 2021 and received it from the hands of Saxon governor of state Michael Kretschmer. For years the Saxon governor of state has been the patron of the European Wind Band Festival, something else Stefan Richter made possible.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Stefan Richter thanked all the voluntary helpers \u201cWithout them we wouldn\u2019t have been able to manage the huge music festival.\u201d 150 people help every year with putting up the marquee, the catering and the selling of drinks for the around 4,000 guests.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWe will try to carry on the festival like he would have wanted. In 2019 we did a good job. However, I am still going to miss his words of advice. He just had so much experience that we will probably just have to gain over time.\u201d says president Thomas Schaumberger. As part of the city council of Aue-Bad Schlema, Stefan Richter still fought for the European Wind Band Festival in the past couple of years. Among other things a specific festival ground is supposed to be built.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

In 2018 at 68 years old Stefan Richter vacated his post as executive director of the music association Bergmannsblasorchester Aue-Bad Schlema and as chief organiser of the European Wind Band Festival. A short time before, he had been able to win Rico Reinwarth from the county school of music of the Erzgebirgskreis for the youth work of the Bergmannsblasorchester. He is now the executive director of the music association. \u201cLong before his departure Stefan made sure that his succession was clear, that there was a future for the association and that his works would fall into the right hands,\u201d says Rico Reinwarth.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Young band members who haven\u2019t known Stefan Richter for as long but still like remembering going on trips together with him and the youth band pay the longstanding executive director respect as well. \u201cWe were in Zurich together at the World Youth Music Festival for example or on a band trip in Spain,\u201d trombonist Hannes Landgraf remembers. \u201cHe was our pack leader.\u201d Trumpeter David Bachmann adds \u201cEven as a child I admired his visions. He was something of a father figure for me.\u201d Because the adolescents already knew that you didn\u2019t contradict Stefan, they printed T-shirts saying \u201cJa, Steff!\u201d Stefan Richter just took it with a chuckle.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cStefan left us with big shoes to fill,\u201d president Thomas Schaumberger sums up and adds: \u201cBut also a good foundation. We have many sponsors that will continue supporting our association and our festival. We have countless contacts with bands all over the world.\u201d That\u2019s why it\u2019s a given for the board and the band members to continue and advance what Stefan Richter established over almost 30 years.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

This year’s Wind Music Festival will be the first one without its founder and longstanding organiser. On Holy Thursday the musicians had one of their gravest performances. They played at the funeral for one of the most significant fellow musicians in the history of the Bergmannsblasorchester one last time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Bergmannsblasorchester loses an important figure due to the death of Stefan Richter The musicians of the Bergmannsblasorchester Aue-Bad Schlema mourn for their long-term executive director. After a severe illness, Stefan Richter died on April 7, 2022. Up until the end…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":2144,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"two_page_speed":[],"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-2468","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blasmusikfest.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2468","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blasmusikfest.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blasmusikfest.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blasmusikfest.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blasmusikfest.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2468"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.blasmusikfest.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2468\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2475,"href":"https:\/\/www.blasmusikfest.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2468\/revisions\/2475"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.blasmusikfest.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.blasmusikfest.eu\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}