About Us

Since 1997, the stars of the classical music scene and promising young artists have been guests in Heidelberg in the spring. The core of the festival is the meeting of people through music. The artists, the audience and the festival team are in lively exchange. In 2022, the Musikfestival celebrated its 25th birthday.

Each festival edition is unique. Each year, new programmatic focal points are set, inviting a change of perspective and a reconsideration of supposedly old familiarities.

Since the beginning of the 2022/23 season, Igor Levit has been Co-Artistic Director of the Musikfestival alongside Artistic Director Thorsten Schmidt. Together, they are pursuing the goal of further promoting the Musikfestival as a platform for up-and-coming artists and for format development. They define it as a space for discourse and the exchange of ideas. Collaboration with other cultural partners, the inclusion of current communication possibilities in the digital sphere and ecologically sustainable program development are at the heart of the collaboration.

The next edition of the Musikfestival will take place from March 14 - April 19, 2026.

In June, the Heidelberger Frühling Liedfestival promotes those who think the song forward in a creative way and keep breaking new ground. The Liedfestival pursues the mission of presenting the genre in a wide variety of formats and offering a platform for experimental and unconventional concepts and forms of performance.

Guest performances take place at Liedfestival, but the Liedzentrum also hosts numerous in-house productions such as the Lied.LABs. And the Liedakademie 's year-round support program under the artistic direction of Thomas Hampson will hold its final work phase of the season during the festival - with public master classes in front of an audience and concerts by the current scholarship holders.

The next edition of the Liedfestival will take place from June 13 - 20, 2026.

Every year in January, the Streichquartettfest invites you to take a deep look into the fascinating world of the string quartet. With its focus on the royal genre of chamber music, it is considered the first of its kind.

Young ensembles meet experienced formations, professional audiences meet the curious. The focus is on the personal exchange between artists and audience - in the concerts, but also beyond.

Every year, Heidelberg becomes a meeting place for all those who love the string quartet - or want to learn to love it.

Next year, for the first time in its history, the string quartet will take place in the Konzerthaus Stadthalle Heidelberg. With its various halls and rooms, it offers the perfect place for discussions, exchanges and relaxed get-togethers.

The next edition of the Streichquartettfest will take place from January 20 - 24, 2027.

Kammermusik+ is the chamber music series for Heidelberg. Every month, soloists and ensembles from the top ranks of the international chamber music scene give guest performances in the auditorium of Alte Pädagogische Hochschule Heidelberg. The ornately paneled hall provides an extraordinary sound space for the diversity of chamber music instrumentation and repertoire. In the subscription series, the audience also has the opportunity to meet the artists in a 7-minute stage conversation.

To the program for the 2025/26 season

The Heidelberger Frühling Liedzentrum preserves and renews the cultural heritage of European art song, which is firmly anchored in Heidelberg. In concerts and festivals, the Liedakademie under the artistic direction of Thomas Hampson and the Heidelberger Frühling Wettbewerb "Das Lied" by Thomas Quasthoff, which ran until 2023, as well as other artistic projects, the phenomenon of "Lied" can unfold creatively and innovatively in all its manifestations. The interplay of these offerings makes the center a place where exemplary song productions can be conceived, tested and brought to the public. This worldwide unique place of song creativity especially promotes innovative projects and the young song talents of tomorrow.

What began in 2011 as a highly condensed course offering as part of the Heidelberger Frühling Musikfestival has developed into a year-round support program for young singers and pianists from all over the world. The masterclasses with the Academy's Artistic Director Thomas Hampson will take place as part of the Liedakademie's four work phases in Heidelberg, some of which will be open to the public and streamed live. The young artists can also be seen performing at the Liedfestival in Heidelberg, in some cases with specially curated programmes.

In its conferences, Heidelberger Frühling provides important impetus for the future of the industry. Since 2013, festivals and concert halls have been discussing current topics and challenges in the classical music industry at Heidelberger Frühling Musikkonferenz (formerly Heidelberg Music Conference). In the fall of 2022, the first Heidelberger Frühling Lied Conference kicked off the exchange and networking of the international song scene. 2025, an online industry event was held at which Heidelberger Frühling, together with the Gesellschaft für innovative Marktforschung (GIM), presented the results of the large-scale study on future scenarios, opportunities and potential of the classical concert.