Was uns am Herzen liegt 2026

Was uns am Herzen liegt 2026

The fifth major charity concert at the Friedenskirche Ludwigsburg on 17 October 2026 – around sixty performers, three choirs, 24 songs and an evening dedicated to Freya Casey.

Learn more: Visit was-uns-am-herzen-liegt.org to browse the concert programme booklet, all 180 photos of the evening and the thank-you post (in German).

Charity Concert 2026

On 17 October 2026, the fifth major charity concert “Was uns am Herzen liegt” (“What is close to our hearts”) took place at the Friedenskirche Ludwigsburg – following the sold-out concert in 2024 and WUAHL pianissimo 2025, which sold out twice at the Marmorsaal Stuttgart.

Around sixty people were on stage: nine soloists, a nine-piece band, the vocal ensemble and three choirs – the Solitude Choir Stuttgart, the Soul Voices and the Wolfbusch Children’s and Youth Choir. As always, every performer brought a song that is personally close to their heart. That is why Metallica stood next to Josh Groban, Sarah Connor next to West Side Story, and a children’s song next to funk by the Average White Band. Between the pieces, the performers told the audience why they had chosen their song.

The church was full; the audience clapped along, sang along and gave a standing ovation at the end. Thank you to everyone who was there!

The audience in the Friedenskirche applauding enthusiastically Children of the Wolfbusch Children's Choir in red T-shirts singing A singer in the spotlight, blue light beams above band and choir A singer throws his arms up, band and choir backlit behind him Two singers performing together in blue light Saxophonist with microphone in front of blue light columns

The Programme

Part 1

  1. Friedensmaler (Fredrik Vahle) – Wolfbusch Children’s Choir
  2. Lichterkinder – Wolfbusch Children’s Choir with full band
  3. Bonnie & Clyde (Sarah Connor) – Petra Rennings & Jessie Rennings
  4. Story of My Life (One Direction) – Yahya Salman
  5. Free Fallin’ (John Mayer) – Sonja Kufferath
  6. Te Vi Venir (Sin Bandera) – Benjamin Calvo Cabet
  7. Nobody Does It Better – Solitude Choir & Soul Voices with the Wolfbusch Youth Choir
  8. I See You (James Horner feat. Leona Lewis) – Yvi Szoncsò
  9. You’re Enough (original song) – Lilly Wafe
  10. Easy Lover (Phil Collins) – Heike Schwegmann & Yvi Szoncsò
  11. Broken Strings (James Morrison & Nelly Furtado) – Jean-Pierre Domaniwski & Yvi Szoncsò
  12. Freedom! ‘90 (George Michael) – Petra Rennings & Jessie Rennings

Part 2

  1. You Are Loved (Josh Groban) – Benjamin Calvo Cabet
  2. West Side Story Medley (Leonard Bernstein) – Wolfbusch Youth Choir & Solitude Choir
  3. Breath & Echoes – instrumental duet for saxophone and piano: Oliver Boese & Dirk Schieborn
  4. Nothing Else Matters (Metallica) – Jessie Rennings
  5. Sleeping in My Car (Roxette) – Heike Schwegmann
  6. Skyfall (Adele) – Solitude Choir & Soul Voices
  7. Storm Over You (Jake and the Convolution) – Jean-Pierre Domaniwski, with special guest Fabian Streich on bass
  8. Pick Up the Pieces (Average White Band) – Oliver Boese (saxophone), Yvi Szoncsò (violin) & Sonja Kufferath
  9. Uptown Funk (Bruno Mars) – Yahya Salman
  10. (I Came) For You (Manfred Mann’s Earth Band) – Petra Rennings
  11. After the Rain Has Fallen (Sting) – Yvi Szoncsò & Jessie Rennings
  12. You Are the Light (Freya Casey) – everyone together

An Evening for Freya

The concert was dedicated to Freya Casey, who passed away in June 2026 after a serious illness. Since her first appearance in 2017, Freya filled our stage like very few others – with “Wenn ich tanzen will”, “Let It Go”, “Les Oiseaux Dans La Charmille” and her own songs “You Are The Light” and “Zeit Mit Dir”. At the end, all of us sang her song “You Are the Light” together – with every performer on stage, hearts projected on the ceiling and light snow falling over the audience.

We also remembered Klaus Breuninger (1961–2026), who led the Solitude Choir and the Soul Voices for many years. His choirs were on stage for him, too.

Finale: all performers together on the stage of the Friedenskirche

Performers

Vocals: Petra Rennings, Jean-Pierre Domaniwski, Dr. Yvi Szoncsò, Yahya Salman, Benjamin Calvo Cabet, Sonja Kufferath, Jessie Rennings, Lilly Wafe, Heike Schwegmann

Band: Prof. Dr. Dirk Schieborn (piano, cello), Michael Friedinger (keys), Uwe Metzler (guitar), Roland Hrastinski (guitar), Brigitte Kohler (bass), Gabriel Illert (drums), Yannik Rebmann (drums), Bene Neuner (percussion), Dr. Oliver Boese (saxophone), Dr. Yvi Szoncsò (violin) – with special guest Fabian Streich (bass)

Choirs: Vokalensemble Yvi Szoncsò, Solitude Choir Stuttgart and Soul Voices conducted by Mona Türei, Wolfbusch Children’s and Youth Choir conducted by Edith Hartmann

Musical director: Dr. Yvi Szoncsò · Hosts: Petra Rennings and Yahya Salman · Lighting and sound: Patrick Fischer and the team of DOSONI Veranstaltungstechnik · Photos: Matthias Stroezel

My Role

As chairman of the association, I co-organised the concert and welcomed the audience together with Gudrun. Musically, I played the electric grand – a digital grand piano kindly provided by the music shop PIANO-FISCHER Stuttgart –, played cello on “Lichterkinder” and “Broken Strings”, and performed the instrumental duet “Breath & Echoes” for saxophone and piano with Oliver Boese.

On the Way to the Concert

The tower of the Friedenskirche Ludwigsburg at night, lit in red with the white heart logo of “Was uns am Herzen liegt”
  • July: A raffle by the SSC Foundation at the summer party of SSC-Services GmbH raised donations for the concert – and the foundation doubled the proceeds. PIANO-FISCHER Stuttgart provided a digital grand piano for the evening.
  • 17 August: Exactly two months before the concert, our heart logo lit up the tower of the Friedenskirche – an idea by Patrick Fischer, realised with two moving heads and a generator. During the video shoot that same night, Petra and Jessie Rennings spontaneously sang “Walking in Memphis” in the middle of the crossroads.
  • September: In a video interview, Patrick Fischer explained why rock and pop in a church are a challenge – and why he uses more than 100 lights for a single evening.
  • October: I visited the Gymnasium Rutesheim and talked to headmaster Jürgen Schwarz and the student council about how the school has been raising money for HOPPS year after year for eleven years. On 11 October, the big full rehearsal took place at the dasCANN youth centre in Bad Cannstatt – band, soloists, vocal ensemble and all choirs together for the first time.

For HOPPS

All proceeds go to HOPPS – the home-based oncological and paediatric care service at Olgahospital Stuttgart, which looks after children and young people with cancer in their familiar surroundings at home. PD Dr. Claudia Blattmann, Medical Director of Paediatrics 5 at Olgahospital, wrote a welcome address for the concert, printed in the programme booklet.

There was already a surprise on stage: the Gymnasium Rutesheim presented us with a cheque for €10,000 for HOPPS – raised by the whole school community through a winter market, chocolate Santas, sponsored runs and a flea market. It was handed over by headmaster and patron Jürgen Schwarz together with Sara and Luisa from the student council.

Two students of the Gymnasium Rutesheim holding the donation cheque for ten thousand euros for HOPPS

Over the coming weeks, we will hand over the concert proceeds to HOPPS together with the Gymnasium Rutesheim. Since 2015, more than €100,000 has been raised this way.

Watch and Listen Again

The entire evening was professionally recorded in picture and sound. Over the coming months, the recordings will be released song by song under Videos on was-uns-am-herzen-liegt.org. All 180 photos by Matthias Stroezel are available in the 2026 gallery.

A singer in a glittering dress performing in front of a blue background Singer at the grand piano under yellow spotlights The Wolfbusch Children's Choir on stage in blue light Singer in front of red light A beaming singer raising his hand A young singer with microphone in front of blue light

Photos: Matthias Stroezel

What’s Next

On 13 November 2027, the story continues with WUAHL pianissimo 2027 in its intimate format – more at was-uns-am-herzen-liegt.org.