The project

In 2012, the GEDOK (Society of the Association of Women Artists and Art Friends) Karlsruhe embarked on an ambitious project to mark the 125th anniversary of Margarete Schweikert's birth: The composer's works were not only to be presented in a series of concerts, but also by edition of the sheet music, the production of a series of CDs and the academic analysis and classification of the multifaceted artist's work.
Pianist Jeannette La-Deur oversees editing the sheet music and artistic project management for the concerts and CDs, which are being produced in collaboration with public broadcasting corporation SWR. She also gives lectures and hosts the concerts on the life and work of the composer.

Alongside Jeannette La-Deur, internationally acclaimed soloists Bernhard Berchtold (tenor) and Armin Kolarczyk (baritone) as well as Berit Barfred-Jensen and Diana Tomsche (soprano) have dedicated themselves to Margarete Schweikert's songs. For the performance of the chamber concerts, musicians from the Badische Staatskapelle Karlsruhe have been recruited: Annelie Groth (violin), Franziska Dürr (viola) and Ilona Steinheimer (cor anglais). Birgitta Schmid provides musicological support for the project.

In March 2019, the Royal School of Music added the Romance by Margarete Schweikert in the arrangement by Jeannette La-Deur to the list of selections for viola.

Margarete Schweikert's works have been performed in numerous concerts to date, including recitals in St. Peter's Church Nottingham (2014), for the 300th anniversary of the city of Karlsruhe (2015) at the Badisches Staatskapelle with Bernhard Berchtold and in the large concert hall of the city of Krasnodar (2015) as part of the German Week with Armin Kolarczyk.

The festive concert on September 20, 2019, to celebrate the 90th anniversary of GEDOK Karlsruhe was recorded by SWR2. The program included songs by Clara Schumann and Hugo Wolf as well as 17 songs by Margarete Schweikert. The recording was broadcast on public radio station SWR2.

Requests for interviews (SWR, WDR), concert recordings, invitations to lectures and internationally enthusiastic CD reviews are evidence of the interest in this rediscovered composer. In recent years, more and more of Schweikert's works have been included in concert programs. Requests for sheet music have also been received from England and Canada.

GEDOK Karlsruhe press release on the Margarete Schweikert project

Margarete Schweikert