International Festive Days at the Goetheanum

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It has been a month since I returned home from attending the 100 Years Modern Lyre Impulse: International Festive Days at the Goetheanum in Dornach, Switzerland, from July 29 to August 2, 2026. It has not been easy to share with others what I experienced in those five days, because all of my sense organs were surrounded with so many images and sounds that were extraordinary, yet real. (Click through the gallery below.)

Faces of people both familiar and unfamiliar; the sound of the lyre resounding from every corner of the Goetheanum; morning light shining through the colored stained glass windows in the Great Hall during the plenum sessions with Christian Giersch; a keynote speech on the birth of the modern lyre by Gerhard Beilharz; our American Lyre Ensemble and program of all American compositions, which included the world premiere of Grigory Smirnov's "Spring Pastorale"; my workshop on the Mood of the Fifth; lyre builders on stage with Martin Tobiassen, who demonstrated for us the sound of each one of their unique instruments, including those lyres whose creators could not be there; those characteristic buildings designed by Rudolf Steiner that were scattered all over the Goetheanum complex; the Schreinerei, where lunch and dinner were served (and it was so hot one day that I had to skip a meal so as not to sweat so much before our own concert!); cows and donkeys, sunflowers, blue sky; eurythmy; lyre music by György Kurtág and Pär Ahlbom; children singing to the accompaniment of a 62-member lyre orchestra on stage; and the delicate and exquisite sound of the lyre played by the children... 

I refuse to let go of the after-images of all of such special beings and the events that transpired there – experiences that still live in me as impressions and memories. As Stefan Hasler, head of the Section for Performing Arts at the Goetheanum, led us through the final hour of the festival, I left the Goetheanum with a new resolution in my heart, and only in action – in my acknowledgement of the transformed self, can I share the fruit of this once-in-lifetime event, with my heartfelt gratitude to its organizers and all those involved in materializing this conference over the past four years, continuing together to be part of the lyre impulse as it begins a new chapter.