Bad Schandau Organ and Music Summer: SpectaChoral — Around the World in 60 Minutes

A concert featuring music from around the world is always something special! 

SpectaChoral takes well-known hymns from the hymnal on a journey around the world, making them sound as if they had originated in another cultural context on our beautiful planet.

Experiences from our own world tour are woven into the arrangements, spiced with little anecdotes and humorously presented by Gaston Endmann.

Sophia Heide was born in Frankfurt/Oder and received her first violin lessons at the age of four. She gained her first orchestral experience from 1998 to 2003 with the German String Philharmonic before beginning her studies at the Carl Maria von Weber University of Music in Dresden (2003–2009). During her studies, she spent a semester abroad in 2005 at the Rimsky-Korsakov State Conservatory in Saint Petersburg. From 2005 to 2008, Sophia Heide served as a substitute musician at the Dresden State Operetta. She is a member of the Degele String Quartet, the Mittelsächsische Philharmonie String Quartet, and the Ensemble Baroccolo, and also collaborates with the band Triozean (lyric poetry, world music, jazz) and with the ensemble L’art de Passage (tango, jazz). Tango music is her personal passion. Sophia Heide has been a member of the first violins of the Mittelsächsische Philharmonie since 2012. Since 2024, Sophia has been accompanying us with SpectaChoral on our musical journey around the world.

The Stuttgart-born jazz pianist, Hammond organist, and composer—now living in Dresden—Jo Aldingercurrently performs with his Hammond organ trio “Jo Aldinger’s DOWNBEATCLUB,” as well as with numerous national and international ensembles. Concert tours have taken him around the globe, including to Paris, London, and Mexico City. Aldinger has produced several music programs for MDR. Since 2004, he has been a lecturer in piano, accompaniment, and music theory at the Carl Maria von Weber University of Music in Dresden. His playing reflects influences from his time as a student at Berklee College of Music in Boston, the Folkwang University of the Arts in Essen, and the Dresden University of Music. In 2012, he co-founded the art platform “art.room” with New York guitarist Oscar Penas. He is also the recipient of the first German Hammond organ diploma. A keen sense of structure and voice balance, along with a special flair for melody, characterize this original and innovative sound aesthete.

Tomasz Skulski, born in 1981 in Zgorzelec (Poland), is a graduate of the Carl Maria von Weber University of Music in Dresden. He is a DAAD scholarship recipient and works professionally as a jazz saxophonist, educator (Heinrich-Schütz Conservatory in Dresden), and music producer (mixing, mastering). He is active as a musician in many diverse projects and participates in numerous jazz festivals, such as the Jazz Festival of Coutance (FR), North Sea Jazz (NL), Fête de la Musique London (UK), Jazzbaltica (DE), and the Durham Brass Festival (UK). He collaborates with, among others, the Gerhart Hauptmann Theater in Görlitz-Zittau, the Elbland Philharmonic Orchestra of Saxony, the Saxony Police Orchestra, the Dresden Salon Orchestra, and many more. Tomasz has been a member of SpectaChoral since 2017.

Sina Rien is a double bassist and composer from Dresden. Even during her school years, she fell in love with this instrument, which, with its deep, warm tones and the various ways it can be played, sets the pulse of the music—“Like mother earth against your body” (Christian McBride). While studying music in Dresden and Wrocław (Poland), she played in many bands across various musical genres. This sparked her interest in Latin American music. Her tours have taken her throughout Germany, as well as to China and Brazil.

In addition to the various bands in which she plays, she now also has her own project. This project focuses on her current compositions, which blend jazz and world music and which she brings to life together with top-notch musicians. After a few short “trips,” Sina has been a permanent member of SpectaChoral since 2024.

Gaston Endmann studied at the “Carl-Maria-von-Weber” University of Music in Dresden. Since 2002, he has been a lecturer in popular music at the Dresden University of Church Music, and since 2015, he has held a teaching position in percussion at the Protestant University of Applied Sciences Dresden-Moritzburg.  In 2003, he studied Cuban music in Havana, followed by study visits to Rio de Janeiro and Salvador da Bahia from 2004 to 2009. 
In addition to his work as an educator, Gaston Endmann is a sought-after musician in various bands and ensembles. He has participated in numerous CD, radio, theater, and television productions and composes and arranges music for various projects. In 2019, he embarked on a musical world tour, and since then has been delighting audiences with his choral journey “SpectaChoral – Around the World in 80 Minutes” in concerts and workshops.

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Tickets: 10 euros

Available starting June 8, 2026, at the Evangelical Lutheran Parish Office in Bad Schandau or at the Bad Schandau Tourist Information Office

Box office opens 30 minutes before  the concert begins at St. John’s Church in Bad Schandau