35th Musikfest Bremen: Experiences full of Magical Sounds!

The festival opens on 17 August around the illuminated market square

The curtain rises on the 35th Musikfest Bremen! Exceptional performances from a wide variety of genres present masterpieces as well as rarities from across the centuries in a new light. From 17 August to 7 September, the conciliatory and inspiring power of music will bring incomparable live concert experiences that energise, stir, empower, comfort and quench desires. In 46 concerts, famous stars as well as exceptional up-and-coming talents will whisk you away to captivating musical worlds that will make you both listen up and dream – in Bremen, Bremerhaven and a selection of venues in the North-West.

The opening night "Eine große Nachtmusik" around the market square exemplifies this diversity on the very first evening. 18 45-minute concerts in nine venues offer tantalising forays through a variety of eras, genres and continents. Among the invited guests are Le Cercle de l'Harmonie, Yulianna Avdeeva and Jérémie Rhorer, the Bach Collegium Japan, Il Pomo d'Oro, the Ensemble Irini, the Compagnia di Punto, Ulrich Matthes & Olena Kushpler, Sarah Willis & Sarahbanda and the Lehmanns Brothers.

The West-Eastern Divan Orchestra celebrates its 25th anniversary in a special advance concert on 7 August, under the baton of Daniel Barenboim and with Anne-Sophie Mutter as soloist. The programme for the three regular festival weeks is just as top-class and wide-ranging. The Quatuor Ebène, Julia Lezhneva, Philippe Jaroussky, Avi Avital, Igor Levit and René Jacobs will all return to the festival. Lea Desandre and the Ensemble Jupiter, Jan Lisiecki and Tarmo Peltokoski (with the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen), tenor Jonathan Tetelman, pianist Mao Fujita and Julien Chauvin and Le Concert de la Loge will make their Musikfest debuts. The new generation presents itself with the Deutsche Symphonie-Orchester Berlin with Anastasia Kobekina and Nicolò Foron as well as at the Bundesjugendorchester and the World Youth Choir. For sounds beyond classical, there’s Sheléa & hr-Bigband, Endea Owens, Lucienne Renaudin Vary and David Enhco. Marc Minkowski and Les Musiciens du Louvre will celebrate 150 years of "Die Fledermaus" at the closing concert in the Glocke, before the music of soul legend Stevie Wonder takes centre stage for the grand finale with the Metropole Orkest and Cory Henry in the open-air event on the market square!

In addition to the Arp-Schnitger-Festival in the organ paradise around Bremen, the Musikfest also returns to the north-west with further concerts, for instance in Barßel, Cuxhaven, Garrel, Jever, Lilienthal, Oldenburg, Osterholz-Scharmbeck, Papenburg, Rechtenfleth, Verden and Worpswede.

FIGURES IN BRIEF: 26,733 tickets are available for the 46 concerts. The Free Hanseatic City of Bremen contributes € 550,000 to the total budget of € 3.8 million and the Minister of State for Culture and Media € 600,000.

EARLY BIRD DISCOUNT: 15% on all tickets until 14 April (except special concert on 7 August)

Tickets & Info: Ticket-Service in the Glocke (Tel. 0421 / 33 66 99, Mo-Fr 12-18 h, Sa 11-14 h) as well as www.musikfest-bremen.de and www.nordwest-ticket.de

Further information for editors:
Musikfest Bremen gGmbh, Carsten Preisler,
Tel. (+49) 421/33 66-660, E-Mail: preisler@musikfest-bremen.de