Beethovenfest Bonn 2021 kicks off on August 20

Thanks to the decision by the Beethoven Anniversary Society BTHVN2020 and its sponsors, the sponsorship periods have been extended so that a significant portion of the 2020 festival program will take place this year. The original 2020 festival motto "Rise again, yes, rise again" has thus proven itself not only crisis-proof, but also prophetic: the Beethovenfest Bonn will indeed "rise again" from August 20 to September 10.

Preview of the 2021 program

The nine Beethoven symphonies

Highly concentrated into one single weekend, five world-class "original sound" ensembles will perform the entire Beethoven symphonic cycle over the course of three evenings. The Ninth Symphony will be performed by Le Concert des Nations under the direction of Jordi Savall. The French baroque ensemble Les Talens Lyriques under Christophe Rousset will present Symphonies No. 8 and 7, and the Hungarian National Symphony led by Stefan Soltesz will perform Symphonies No. 6 and 4. The Flemish B´Rock Orchestra under Alessandro de Marchi will perform Symphonies No. 2 and 5, and rounding out the cycle will be Symphonies No. 1 and 3 by the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra led by Michael Boder. 

All nine Beethoven symphonies will also be performed in the form of Franz Liszt’s transcriptions for piano. Only the most virtuoso pianists can master these scores – among them Konstantin Scherbakov and Cyprin Katsaris. To help honor the 2020 Beethoven anniversary – if a year later than planned – the Orchestre des Champs-Elysées under Philippe Herreweghe and the Vienna Philharmonic, led by Herbert Blomstedt, will also come to Bonn. The grand finale will feature the Mahler Chamber Orchestra under Maxime Pascal performing Mahler’s epic "Resurrection Symphony."

As pianist in residence, Marino Formenti will perform three evening concerts at the Beethoven-Haus featuring works by Beethoven, Schönberg, Webern, Lachenmann, Ives and Barraqué. Dance / Installation: The Ballet de l'Opéra de Lyon performs to the sounds of Beethoven quartets and world-renowned artist Romeo Castellucci presents his "Pavane für Prometheus" in Bonn's decommissioned "Viktoriabad" swimming pool.

Also on the musical program: chamber orchestras from Basel and Zürich, the Auryn Quartet, the amarcord vocal ensemble, performances by prize winners and youth orchestras, and some jazz. A dedicated Education section rounds out the 2021 program.

The complete 2021 program is available online.

Facts and figures

The Beethovenfest Bonn 2021 is under the patronage of the Minister-President of North Rhine-Westphalia Armin Laschet. The festival is made possible by grants from the City of Bonn, the Beethoven Anniversary Society, and the Rhein-Sieg Kreis (Rhein-Sieg County) as well as through project-based funding provided by the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media (BKM). In addition to the support of its main sponsors Deutsche Post DHL Group, Deutsche Telekom, Sparkasse KölnBonn and Deutsche Welle, Beethovenfest Bonn receives support from a large number of event sponsors and foundations. The festival also maintains media partnerships with Deutsche Welle, Bonn’s General-Anzeiger daily newspaper, Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR), and Deutschlandfunk/Deutschlandradio Kultur. Beethovenfest Bonn is cultural partner to WDR 3. Deutsche Welle broadcasts Beethovenfest concerts worldwide via radio and podcast.

Beethovenfest Bonn also maintains a presence on social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, Instagram und YouTube.

Photographs of Beethovenfest Bonn 2021 artists can be downloaded here.