Post-pandemic, the opportunity to enjoy live music and music festivals at home, abroad or further afield is again possible. The plethora of options is almost bewildering but a luxury well worth indulging in given the time and spare money.
Many festivals are streamed or available post-performance for viewing even if you can’t attend the concert—the joy of the internet.
What Are The Classical Music Festivals Around The World?
UK Classical Music Festivals
Amongst the festivals, I have had the great privilege to attend over the years is one with a long and formidable reputation here in England; The BBC Promenade Concerts.
This festival of Classical music I believe is the longest series of concerts programmed anywhere in the world. They usually run from late July until early September offering a selection of top-class performances from a huge array of ensembles, choirs, orchestras and bands from across the globe.
There’s something for everyone and the must-have experience of hearing a concert at The Royal Albert Hall, London.
The Proms as the festival is now known dates back to around 1838 when the pleasure garden crowds began to assemble at more formal gatherings. These initial concerts were initiated by Sir Arthur Sullivan and Louis Antoine Jullien.
The concerts that were to be famed as promenade concerts began in 1895 in the Queen’s Hall, Langham Palace. It was the brainchild of impresario Robert Newman and it was he who employed Henry Wood, then around 26 years old, to be the conductor of the Queen’s Hall Orchestra.
Following an air raid in 1941 and the devastation of the Queen’s Hall, by 1945 the Prom Concerts took up residence in the Royal Albert Hall and have been happily there ever since.
Remaining for a moment more in the UK, I need to mention several other fantastic festivals that take place annually to considerable acclaim. Composer Benjamin Britten inaugurated the Aldeburgh Festival many decades ago.
The festival takes place at the charming Maltings at Snape and Britten’s music takes central stage each year alongside an array of commissions and established repertoire. In 2017 the legendary Edinburgh International Festival enjoyed its 70th Birthday.
This festival includes a substantial amount of high-quality classical performances in addition to a smorgasbord of other genres which makes this one of the most popular festivals in the year.
Germany Classical Music Festivals
Germany holds many well-established festivals, notably in the summer months. The Dresden Festival runs between 18th May – 18th June and has included some big names from the world of classical music.
The programme is always inspired often with a new theme each year. There is the Bachfest in Leipzig whose name as you’d expect gives a substantial clue to the central composer in the festival.
This festival celebrates JS Bach’s immense catalog of works delivered by some of the world’s greatest performers. It was a little over 300 years ago that JS Bach succeeded to the post of Thomaskantor in Leipzig.
Munich holds an opera festival annually from the 18th of June to the 31st of July. This year Verdi, Wagner and Strauss occupied key places at the festival with Strauss’s Salome a real treat for opera enthusiasts.
Both Herny Purcell and Arnold Schoenberg held pride of place with Dido and Aeneas and Erwartung respectively.
Renowned France Classical Music Festivals
Saint-Jean-de-Luz in France may not mean much to you until I tell you it was the place where composer Maurice Ravel was born. It was interestingly also the place where the Sun King Louis XIV married Maria Theresa of Spain.
Each year from mid-August till mid-September the Festival Ravel celebrates the meeting of three cultures; Basque, Spanish and French. Ravel, as you’d expect, features in addition to music that comes from each of these countries.
The Aix-En-Provence Festival celebrated its 75th birthday in 2023. The theme was a thorny but worthy one challenging moral perceptions and highlighting the plight of the vulnerable.
As such two notable new operas were performed this year including George Benjamin’s recent work titled Picture A Day Like This. The caliber of performers is always remarkable offering the visitor in early to mid-July a memorable experience.
Italy and the Czech Republic Classical Music Festivals
Cremona, in Italy, is perhaps more commonly celebrated for superb luthiers like Amati and Stradivari. For forty years the Monteverdi Festival has taken the month of June to promote and enjoy the wonderful music of this composer who was born in Cremona.
During a two-week festival, the music in all its forms from operas to instrumental works receive performances often presenting works that are not as well known. This year Monteverdi’s opera L’incoronazione di Poppea was a firm favourite amongst audiences.
The 12th of May until the 2nd of June is the time for the Prague Festival in the Czech Republic. This is a highly sought-after event that brings seasoned performers, orchestras and ensembles from around the world to play.
The festival beautifully blends an alluring program of concerts that include something for everyone. Contemporary music and composers are properly represented from familiar names like John Adams to the lesser known such as George Frederich Haas.
Smetena’s glittering music appears regularly during the festival ensuring the magical scores from this often underrepresented Czech composer do not get overlooked.
Poland and Norway Classical Music Festivals
Only in its eleventh season, the Musica Electronica Nova Festival in Poland aims its sights on a younger audience as well as the more mature music lover.
Two concerts this year were specifically devoted to the emerging audience with one highly diverse electronic composition called Fluid Mechanics by Benjamin de la Fuente and Samuel Sighicelli.
The events never fail to excite and ignite the imagination. This festival, although still relatively young, seems to always be looking for a new angle and certainly has a bright future.
The Bergen International Festival in Norway is a well-established festival frequently attracting a star-studded canopy of performers. The music of Norwegian composers is never far from the concert listings but not always the names you are probably familiar with.
In 2023 for instance the first female Norwegian composer to write a large-scale orchestral work, Anne-Marie Ørbeck was properly represented and celebrated.
Equally, performances of more standard orchestral, operatic and choral works are sensitively assembled into some highly attractive concerts.
Other Renowned Classical Music Festivals
There are a vast number of other festivals that are remarkable in their own right that I haven’t space to include here. I would like to mention the International Music Festival that El Djem, Tunisia hosts and has successfully done since 1985.
It is a summer festival held in the open air in a 3rd-century amphitheater in El Djem; atmospheric with fabulous performances. Since 1973 the Istanbul International Music Festival has been attracting an impressive list of artists.
European Classical music from symphonic works and ballet to opera dominated the landscape.