Dawn of a new festival era

From 23 March to 1 April 2013, the Berliner Philharmoniker and Sir Simon Rattle make Baden-Baden the location for their Easter Festival for the first time – increasing the number of festivals there – which already include Whitsun, Summer, Autumn and Winter Festivals – to five.

Germany’s largest opera house was built here 15 years ago in the city on the river Oos, famous for culture and its spa. The Festspielhaus Baden-Baden has 2,500 seats, the stage and the auditorium were built by the Viennese architect Wilhelm Holzbauer in the historic building of the town’s former train station. It is the central venue of the orchestra’s Easter Festival, where four performances of Mozart’s Magic Flute, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle, will take place. The Berliner Philharmoniker’s chief conductor will also lead the orchestra in two performances of Gustav Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony and Brahms’s First Piano Concerto with soloist Krystian Zimerman. Other guests include conductor Andris Nelsons and violinist Maxim Vengerov who will join the orchestra in a performance of the Violin Concerto by Johannes Brahms.

In addition to the Festspielhaus, other cultural institutions in the city such as the theatre, the Stiftskirche, the Museum of 19th Century Art and Technology (LA8), the Florentinersaal, the Orangerie, the Museum Frieder Burda and the Weinbrennersaal will also become musical venues for the “Masters Concerts” series, performed by chamber music ensembles of the Berliner Philharmoniker. Younger music fans are, of course, not forgotten: There is a Magic Flute for children, the salon opera Cendrillon and a concert by the National Youth Orchestra of Germany.