Acting world star Klaus Maria Brandauer (79, "Out of Africa") feels very connected to the Christian faith.

"I grew up Catholic and am still grateful today that I found such an approach. I still like to go to church - especially in the large cathedrals in Cologne or Aachen and also in St. Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna," said Brandauer in an interview with the German Press Agency (dpa) in Hamburg. And explained: "I just like to be there, because there is a need to keep talking to myself about faith, about the wonderful story of Jesus Christ."

The artist, born on June 22, 1943 in Bad Aussee (Austria), added that he was a very convinced altar boy when he was young. Last but not least, his mother, who sang in the Altaussee church choir, was an inspiration for all of this. "When there was a big fair there, it was so wonderful," Brandauer recalled. At the same time, the actor took a differentiated look at the institution: "It's not my fault that various terrible things have happened over the centuries in the name of the church or faith. I take the things I can use." On the other hand, he would prefer to talk about the big problems elsewhere, because that takes up a lot of space.

Brandauer was also shaped by his compatriot, the Salzburg-born composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), whose biography his mother gave him to read very early on. In the letters of the then child prodigy, he was fascinated not only by his preoccupation with religion, but above all by the self-confident criticism of all kinds of authorities and the struggle for inner artistic freedom.

Under the title "Mozart! Brandauer reads Mozart", the award-winning film and theater star is going on a musical reading tour through ten cities on his 80th birthday this summer together with the Hamburg pianist Sebastian Knauer. From June 5th to 14th, both artists will be guests in Bamberg, Wilhelmshaven, Hamburg, Osnabrück, Paderborn, Hanover, Bremen, Münster-Hiltrup, Plön and Wesselburen.

Info Reading trip