Classical year 2015

#link:http://www.klavierfestival.de:Piano Festival Ruhr# (May 9 - July 12)

Leon Fleischer, Chick Corea, Daniel Barenboim, Krystian Zimmerman, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Evgeny Kissin, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Igor Levit, Maria Joao Pires, Martha Argerich: the festival gives a cross-section of the piano world at various locales in Germany's rust belt Ruhr District. Accordingly, "The pianists of the world play at Europe's new metropolises" is the catchword in 2015 at the world's biggest piano festival, led by Franz Xaver Ohnesorg.

#link:http://www.bach-leipzig.de:Bachfest Leipzig# (June 12-21)

Since it was revitalized in 1999, this one has established itself as the most important among the roughly thirty Bach festivals in Germany. In 2015, in a reference to the millennial celebration of the founding of Leipzig, the fest has the motto "So herrlich stehst du, liebe Stadt" (Thou dost in glory stand, dear town!). Roughly 100 events take place at thirty locations, but the ones where Johann Sebastian Bach himself once worked - especially St. Thomas' and St. Nicholas' Churches - are what gives this Bachfest its flair. The concerts performed by the over 800 year old Choir of St. Thomas' are particularly popular, and the fest is now working closer with another famous local institution, the Gewandhaus Orchestra. With Bach-inspired jazz sets, chamber concerts, outdoors events and excursions to historic organs in the region, the attractions of Lepizig and its surroundings are fully exploited.

#link:http://www.shmf.de:Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival# (July 11 - August 30)

Founded in 1996, this one encompasses an entire state. The festival is unique for its venues: Schleswig-Holstein's palaces and manors, sheds and stalls, churches and concert halls. Up to 2013, the festival focused on the music of a different country each year. Taking over as director, Christian Kuhnt then introduced artists' retrospectives. In 2014, Felix Mendelssohn was in the spotlight. This time the festival shifts the focus to Pyotr Il'yich Tchaikovsky. Another ingredient is the orchestra academy founded by Leonard Bernstein, comprised of young musicians from around the world.

#link:http://www.salzburgerfestspiele.at:Salzburg Festival# (July 18 - August 30)

The 2015 season will see a reduced lineup of 173 events (down from 223). "Ruling and serving, power and powerlessness, oppression and revolt" is the theme of the newest edition of what is still the world's largest classical music festival. The main pillors remain: opera, concert and theater as well as programs for the youth. The week-long "Ouverture spirituell" downbeat revolves this time around Hinduism and its musical traditions. The program includes three new operatic productions, with acting festival director Sven-Eric Bechtolf staging Mozart's "Marriage of Figaro" and new productions of Beethoven’s "Fidelio" and of Wolfgang Rihm's opera "Die Eroberung von Mexico" (The Conquest of Mexico). Despite the slimmed-down program, the festival is gaining an additional 2.5 million euros in public funding. A wise investment: according to the festival, tax revenues resulting from tourism add up to roughly three times the amount of subsidies granted.

#link:http:// www.bayreuther-festspiele.de:Bayreuth Festival# (July 25 - August 28)

The world's most renowned opera festival begins its 104th season with a new production of Richard Wagner's "Tristan and Isolde" directed by Katharina Wagner. After her half-sister Eva Wagner-Pasquier resigned, Wagner's great-granddaughter is now sole festival director. The eagerly awaited new staging of "Tristan" will be conducted by Christian Thielemann. "Lohengrin" (directed by Hans Neuenfels and conducted by Alain Altinoglu), "The Flying Dutchman" (director: Jan Philipp Gloger, conductor: Axel Kober) and the tetralogy "The Ring of the Nibelung" (director: Frank Castorf, conductor: Kirill Petrenko) complete the lineup. Ticket orders are being taken online.

#link:http:// www.berlinerfestspiele.de:Berlin Music Festival# (September 2-21)

The capital city itself could be described as a festival in permanence. Yet in that context, the Berlin Music Festival stands out, thanks to the star artists, orchestras and conductors featured. Leading the pack is the local band, the Berlin Philharmonic. The agenda will be announced early in the year.

#link:http://www.beethovenfest.de:Beethovenfest Bonn# (September 4 - October 4)

The motto of the 2015 edition of the festival in Ludwig van Beethoven's home town being "Variations," a central work on the program is the composer's "Diabelli Variations." But visitors will also have the rare opportunity to hear the works written by all of the composers who heeded a publisher's call to write variations on a waltz tune by Anton Diabelli. As led by Nike Wagner, another great-granddaughter of Richard Wagner, the festival will strictly adhere to the festival motto while opening itself to other forms of artistic expression, including the pictorial arts and dance. Highlights also include three concerts with the period instrument orchestra Anima Eterna of Brugges, and, as the downbeat to the roughly sixty concerts, the Israel Philharmonic led by Zubin Mehta in Gustav Mahler's Ninth Symphony.