Richard Strauss’ “Elektra”

Easter Festival Baden-Baden 2024

(Photo: Maria Riedinger)

The Easter Festival in Baden-Baden presents a wide-ranging programme of opera performances, symphony concerts and chamber music from 23 March to 1 April.

After a journey to the world of magic and spirits in Die Frau ohne Schatten last April, this year’s Easter Festival in Baden-Baden features a gripping psychodrama. The Berliner Philharmoniker and chief conductor Kirill Petrenko present another opera by Richard Strauss at the Festspielhaus: Elektra. Nina Stemme, one of the leading dramatic sopranos of our time, sings the title role, playing a woman driven by hatred and revenge. Since 2015, Elektra has been one of the starring roles in which she has enjoyed success at opera houses from the Vienna Staatsoper to New York’s Met, where she has been celebrated for her ability to reveal the human side of the character as well: her isolation, her yearning, and her conflict with her mother Klytemnestra. That role will be taken by mezzo-soprano Michaela Schuster, whom Baden-Baden audiences heard as the Nurse in last year’s opera production. The role of Elektra’s sister Chrysothemis will be sung by Elza van den Heever, who also appeared in 2023 - as the Empress. Bass-baritone Johan Reuter will be heard as Orestes. The opera is directed by Philipp Stölzl, who has directed productions at the Bregenz and Salzburg Festivals, the Ruhrtriennale and the Deutsche Oper Berlin, and is also a successful director of music videos and feature films.

Wagner, Bruckner, Sibelius

In addition, music-lovers can look forward to concert performances with chief conductor Kirill Petrenko, including the first act of Wagner’s Walküre and Jean Sibelius’s Violin Concerto with our Artist-in-Residence, Lisa Batiashvili, as soloist. Other star guests will include Tugan Sokhiev, who conducts Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony, and pianist Jan Lisiecki, playing Ludwig van Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto. One of the Festival’s regular guest ensembles is the Bundesjugendorchester, which is supported by the Berliner Philharmoniker. Their concert programme also features a work by Richard Strauss: his tone poem Also sprach Zarathustra.

Schubert and the Second Viennese School

During the Easter Festival, all of Baden-Baden is filled with music, since chamber music concerts with members and ensembles from the Berliner Philharmoniker are presented at various venues in the spa town – from the Casino to the Weinbrennersaal. The focus this year is the music of Franz Schubert and the Second Viennese School – a theme which promises exciting programming that demonstrates how much the compositions of Arnold Schoenberg, Anton Webern and Alban Berg, which were regarded as revolutionary, contend with the Viennese musical tradition of Schubert and his peers. Schubert’s string quartet “Death and the Maiden”, his string trios, the “Trout” Quintet and his Octet are all on the programme. The Second Viennese School is represented with string trios and quartets by Schoenberg and Webern, Berg’s Lyric Suite and Schoenberg’s Kammersymphonie No. 1. The interpreters will include the Philharmonic String Trio, the Venus Quartet, the Scharoun Ensemble, the Brahms Ensemble and the Philharmonic String Quartet. Rounding off the Festival programme are our Education events, some of which will be presented on the transportable VeloStage, a mobile stage mounted on a cargo bike, at various locations in Baden-Baden.

All events of the festival

Friday,

29 Mar 2024,
15:30

Kurhaus Baden-Baden, Weinbrennersaal

Tour

Fri 29 Mar 2024, 15:30
Kurhaus Baden-Baden, Weinbrennersaal

Brahms Ensemble Berlin

Rachel Schmidt violin

Raimar Orlovsky violin

Julia Gartemann viola

Christoph Igelbrink cello

Works by Franz Schubert and Anton Webern

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Friday,

29 Mar 2024,
18:00

Festspielhaus Baden-Baden

Tour

Fri 29 Mar 2024, 18:00
Festspielhaus Baden-Baden

Easter Festival Baden-Baden

Berliner Philharmoniker

Kirill Petrenko conductor

Lisa Batiashvili violin

Works by Jean Sibelius and Johannes Brahms

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Saturday,

30 Mar 2024,
11:00

Kurhaus Baden-Baden, Benazet Saal

Tour

Sat 30 Mar 2024, 11:00
Kurhaus Baden-Baden, Benazet Saal

National Youth Orchestra of Germany

Elias Grandy conductor

Wiebke Lehmkuhl contralto

Works by Antonín Dvořák, Alma Mahler and Richard Strauss

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Saturday,

30 Mar 2024,
14:00

Kurhaus Baden-Baden, Weinbrennersaal

Tour

Sat 30 Mar 2024, 14:00
Kurhaus Baden-Baden, Weinbrennersaal

Emmanuel Pahud flute

Wenzel Fuchs clarinet

Daishin Kashimoto violin

Ludwig Quandt cello

Eric Le Sage piano

Works by Joseph Haydn, Alban Berg, Gustav Mahler and Arnold Schoenberg

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Saturday,

30 Mar 2024,
18:00

Festspielhaus Baden-Baden

Tour

Sat 30 Mar 2024, 18:00
Festspielhaus Baden-Baden

Easter Festival Baden-Baden

Berliner Philharmoniker

Tugan Sokhiev conductor

Jan Lisiecki piano

Works by Ludwig van Beethoven and Anton Bruckner

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Sunday,

31 Mar 2024,
11:00

Kurhaus Baden-Baden, Weinbrennersaal

Tour

Sun 31 Mar 2024, 11:00
Kurhaus Baden-Baden, Weinbrennersaal

Noah Bendix-Balgley violin

Luis Esnaola violin

Martin von der Nahmer viola

Stephan Koncz cello

Franz Schubert String Quartet No. 15 in G major, D 887

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Sunday,

31 Mar 2024,
14:00

Kurhaus Baden-Baden, Weinbrennersaal

Tour

Sun 31 Mar 2024, 14:00
Kurhaus Baden-Baden, Weinbrennersaal

Philharmonisches Streichquartett

Dorian Xhoxhi violin

Helena Madoka Berg violin

Naoko Shimizu viola

Christoph Heesch cello

Works by Anton Webern and Franz Schubert

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Sunday,

31 Mar 2024,
18:00

Festspielhaus Baden-Baden

Tour

Sun 31 Mar 2024, 18:00
Festspielhaus Baden-Baden

Easter Festival Baden-Baden

Berliner Philharmoniker

Kirill Petrenko conductor

Nina Stemme soprano (Elektra)

Elza van den Heever soprano (Chrysothemis)

Michaela Schuster mezzo-soprano (Klytämnestra)

Johan Reuter bass-baritone (Orest)

Richard Strauss Elektra

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Monday,

01 Apr 2024,
11:00

Festspielhaus Baden-Baden

Tour

Mon 01 Apr 2024, 11:00
Festspielhaus Baden-Baden

Easter Festival Baden-Baden

Berliner Philharmoniker

Kirill Petrenko conductor

Lisa Batiashvili violin

Works by Jean Sibelius and Johannes Brahms

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