The Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival 2025

From 5 July to 31 August 2025, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival (SHMF) will focus on the music metropolis of Istanbul and the pianist Fazıl Say. The programme also includes a special anniversary: Germany's largest classical music festival is celebrating its 40th edition!

In the coming festival summer, the SHMF will host a number of internationally acclaimed soloists, including Lang Lang, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Midori, Elisabeth Leonskaja, Thomas Quasthoff, Matthias Goerne and Grigory Sokolov, Albrecht Mayer, Daniel Hope, Joshua Bell, Sabine Meyer, Avi Avital, Víkingur Ólafsson, Kit Armstrong, Sol Gabetta, Nils Mönkemeyer, Vivi Vassileva, Alexej Gerassimez, Asya Fateyeva, Lucas and Arthur Jussen, David Orlowsky and Jess Gillam.

The festival programme is also enriched by orchestras such as the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, the NDR Radiophilharmonie, the hr-Sinfonieorchester, the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, the Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, the Zurich Chamber Orchestra, the Turkish National Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, the Havana Lyceum Orchestra, the Camerata Salzburg and the Hamburg Camerata.

The festival's major orchestral concerts are conducted by renowned conductors such as Daniel Barenboim, Stanislav Kochanovsky, Vasily Petrenko, Otto Tausk and Michael Sanderling as well as up-and-coming young talents such as Holly Choe, Santtu-Matias Rouvali and Nil Venditti.

In addition, ensembles such as the NDR Vokalensemble, the vocal ensemble Tenebrae, the Goldmund Quartet, the Javus Quartet, the Leonkoro Quartet, the Carousel Chamber Music Ensemble, the L'Orfeo Wind Ensemble, the a cappella ensemble Sjaella, the Amita Vokalensemble, the Philharmonix, the Between Worlds Ensemble, the dogma chamber orchestra, German Brass, Mnozil Brass, the Orchester im Treppenhaus and the ensemble reflektor make up the 2025 programme.

In addition to classical music, the SHMF is building bridges to other genres such as jazz, chanson and global pop with musicians such as Max Mutzke, Rebekka Bakken, Katharine Mehrling, Momi Maiga and Faada Freddy. South American cumbias and boleros by Los Pitutos, avant-garde soundscapes by Anna Meredith, the Scottish folk band Breabach, the pantomime family Flöz and the original bottle music by GlasBlasSing also contribute to the diversity of the SHMF programme. Actress Katja Riemann, actor Ulrich Tukur and writer Dörte Hansen can be seen at literary-musical evenings.

Two major open-air highlights are the concerts by Sting and the Fantastischen Vier at the Nordmarksportfeld in Kiel. And Herbert Grönemeyer can be experienced in a completely new role - that of conductor - as he presents an orchestral suite of his own songs together with the Bochum Symphony Orchestra.

Facts and figures

A total of 203 concerts, five ‘Music Festivals in the Countryside’, two Children's Music Festivals and the Shipyard Summer are presented in 125 venues at 71 locations in Schleswig-Holstein, Denmark, Hamburg and the north of Lower Saxony. The budget approved by the Board of Trustees amounts to around 14.5 million euros. The SHMF would like to thank the state of Schleswig-Holstein for funding totalling 1.176 million euros. Agreements on main sponsorships, project, concert and product partnerships as well as donations and grants secure the funding.

40 years of the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival

The SHMF is celebrating its 40th anniversary with a series of concerts focussing on musical companions and artistic excellence. In keeping with Leonard Bernstein's motto ‘Let's make music as friends’, international stars who have been loyal to the festival for years, as well as artists from the festival's first year, will return to the north to celebrate the anniversary - including Lang Lang, Sabine Meyer, Grigory Sokolov, Daniel Hope, Sol Gabetta, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Stefan Vladar and Elisabeth Leonskaja. 

Music metropolis: Istanbul

Istanbul - for thousands of years, today's city of millions has been a melting pot of cultures. From the Roman, Byzantine and Ottoman Empires to the Turkish Republic, the only cosmopolitan city on two continents unites a multitude of ethnic groups, religions and traditions. A lively mosaic full of contrasts unfolds here: Turkish folklore meets Kurdish sounds, baroque violin meets the Ottoman flute Ney and Johann Sebastian Bach meets Fazıl Say.  

In 2025, the SHMF is dedicating a focus to the metropolis of 16 million people and offering a varied insight into the musical diversity of Istanbul in more than 60 concerts. The programme ranges from Kassia, the first known female composer of the 9th century from what was then Constantinople, to the composer Cem Esen, born in 1997, and includes orchestral and solo works, chamber music as well as song and piano recitals. 

The Borusan Istanbul Philharmonic Orchestra, the Turkish National Youth Philharmonic Orchestra, the brass quintet Golden Horn Brass and the folk band Light in Babylon have been invited as musical ambassadors of the city on the Bosporus. Pianist and composer Büsra Kayıkçı, guitarist Celil Refik Kaya, pianist Hüseyin Sermet, conductor Cem Mansur and singer-songwriter Zeyn'el will also be part of the programme.  

A number of artists will focus on the dialogue between cultures: oud player Mehmet C. Yesilçay will trace the artistic connections between the two major trading centres of Venice and Constantinople with works from the 17th century, while bassoonist Burak Özdemir will combine French ballet music with dances from the Ottoman sultan's palace. Other programmes deal with the view of Western European classical music on the music of the Ottoman Empire - including two evenings by the L'Orfeo Wind Ensemble with works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven and others, whose compositions were inspired by the so-called ‘Janissary Music’, a form of military music of the Ottoman Empire. 

With the founding of the Turkish Republic in the 20th century, Western models became more prominent in Istanbul's music scene. Young talents such as Ahmed Adnan Saygun and Ulvi Cemal Erkin received scholarships to study composition in Paris and promoted a European-influenced classical music scene in Istanbul. Their works can also be experienced as part of the focus programme.  

In addition, artists such as percussionist Emil Kuyumcuyan and pianist Serra Tavsanli will present their own perspectives on their home city of Istanbul, complementing the music with image projections and thus creating multidimensional concert experiences.

Christoph Eschenbach turns 85 

Christoph Eschenbach, Principal Conductor of the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra and closely associated with the festival from the very beginning, is celebrating his 85th birthday this year. To mark the occasion, the festival is honouring him with a series of special concerts. The opening concerts with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra and pianist Khatia Buniatishvili will kick things off. Three further concerts under the motto ‘Eschenbach & Friends’ honour the jubilarian: his long-time companion, pianist Tzimon Barto, pays homage to him with a recital, while the maestro himself, together with other musical friends such as Matthias Goerne or the ‘Leonard Bernstein Award’ winners Kian Soltani and Stathis Karapanos as well as alumni of the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra, presents programmes that express his formative influence on the music world. Another highlight will be two concerts with ‘his’ Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra and violinist Midori, with whom Eschenbach has enjoyed a long-standing artistic collaboration.

Werftsommer

The SHMF Shipyard Summer (Werftsommer) takes place from 1 to 8 August and invites the public to dance in the historic industrial halls of Lübeck's Kulturwerft Gollan. The programme includes Anatolian and Kurdish music traditions, techno-jazz and orchestral disco sounds. 

Kolektif Istanbul, one of the most popular bands in Istanbul's club scene for 20 years, will kick off the programme. Istanbul's club scene for 20 years. Their ‘progressive wedding music’ is a mixture of traditional Anatolian and Thracian music with jazz, funk and dynamic Balkan sounds - absolutely danceable and captivating.

The star singer Aynur is currently regarded as the most prominent voice in Kurdish music. She wraps the folk music of her roots in a modern guise and is touring the world with it - now she is making a stop at the old shipyard hall in Lübeck. With her powerful voice, she tells stories of identity, homeland, expulsion, resistance and love and creates a unique connection between past and present.

With their new album ‘Bangers Only!’, the Jazzrausch Bigband from Munich will be presenting the core of their more than ten years of work at the Werftsommer. In addition to existing songs, which are taken apart and reinterpreted, the audience can also expect new tracks with the incomparable mix of jazz, techno and classical music. The concert is being organised in collaboration with JazzBaltica.

At the end of the shipyard summer, the orchestra will be a guest in the stairwell. The 20-piece ensemble from Hanover playfully explores the question: ‘What can classical music do today?’ In their programme ‘Disco’, the musicians use minimal grooves and no electronic sounds to show how danceable contemporary compositions can be. 

Following the Werftsommer concerts, DJ Ipek, a popular figure on the Berlin club scene, and Hamburg-based DJ textme will play two sets in the foyer of the hall, bringing the evenings to a close with sets ranging from Anatolian folklore to deep house.

Thanks to financial support from the Possehl Foundation, the Werftsommer concerts take place under particularly high sustainability standards: Among other things, the audience can enjoy vegetarian cuisine from the region, shuttle buses between Lübeck central bus station and the venue make it easier to travel by public transport and a reusable deposit system minimises the disposal of cups and bottles.

Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra

‘Let's make music as friends": under this motto of conductor and SHMF co-founder Leonard Bernstein, over 110 young top musicians from a wide range of nations have come together every festival summer since 1987 to form the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra (SHFO). The members of the SHFO have qualified during the winter months at auditions in over 25 locations worldwide and receive a scholarship that includes their trip to Schleswig-Holstein and their stay at the Nordkolleg Rendsburg during the festival season from the beginning of July to the end of August, as well as intensive work with renowned conductors.

This year, Michael Sanderling, Nil Venditti, Holly Choe and Ludwig Wicki will conduct the festival orchestra. Christoph Eschenbach, Principal Conductor of the Festival Orchestra, will also conduct a work phase. The programme of the 18 concerts includes Symphony No. 1 by Fazıl Say, Robert Schumann's Symphony No. 3, Symphony No. 7 by Dmitri Shostakovich and Symphony No. 5 by Anton Bruckner. Together with Midori as soloist, the young musicians will dedicate themselves to Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Concerto and in the Holstenhalle Neumünster they will enter the magical world of ‘Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban’, the third part of the Hogwarts series, with two film concerts. A guest performance will take the festival orchestra to the Konzerthaus Berlin during the summer.

Schleswig-Holstein Festival Choir

Since 2014, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Choir has been made up of ambitious singers from Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Berlin and other parts of Germany as well as Switzerland. Together they work on major choral works and give concerts at the SHMF under professional direction. This year, under the direction of choir director Nicolas Fink, the ensemble will present an a cappella programme with works from the 19th to 21st centuries by Joseph Rheinberger, Frank Martin and Joep Franssens. The concerts will take place in Lübeck and Flensburg. In Lübeck, the festival choir will perform two more times as part of the festive closing concerts with the NDR Radiophilharmonic orchestra. With Giuseppe Verdi's ‘Messa da Requiem’, they will perform one of the Italian composer's most important works, which conveys a wide range of emotions from poignant mourning to powerful jubilation.

Campus

For around 35 years, the SHMF Masterclasses have brought together internationally renowned artists to train young talents as soloists and chamber musicians. The participants come from all over the world and find ideal rehearsal conditions in the wonderful ambience of the Lübeck University of Music. In summer 2025, first-class teachers will return to the masterclasses in the form of pianist Elisabeth Leonskaja (21 to 25 July), opera singer Brigitte Fassbaender (22 to 26 July) and trumpeter Matthias Höfs (29 July to 1 August). The courses are open to the public and invite guest listeners to attend the lessons. At the end of the courses, the young musicians present their progress to the festival audience at the masterclass concerts. The application deadline for participation is 13 April. 

From 22 to 24 July, passionate amateur actors and actresses will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the world of masked theatre. Michael Vogel, co-founder and artistic director of the international theatre company Familie Flöz, will introduce workshop participants to the secrets of pantomime acting. Participants will slip into different roles and learn how to bring a mask to life. The workshop will take place in Kiel and registration is open until 18 May.

From 6 to 10 August, fans of klezmer music can attend a workshop with musicians from the Styrian Klezmore Orchestra in Lübeck and become part of what is probably the largest klezmer ensemble in the north. Whether with clarinet, violin or accordion - the participants will work together on a varied programme ranging from cheerful melodies to melancholy sounds. At the end of the joint rehearsal period, a concert will take place on 10 August in the Great Hall of the Lübeck University of Music. The celebrated clarinettist David Orlowsky will be there as a special guest. Anyone interested can register for the klezmer workshop until 13 April. The masterclasses and the klezmer workshop are sponsored by the Possehl Foundation. 

To register for the campus programmes

Singstars!

The SHMF project ‘Singstars!’, which places a special focus on singing in primary schools, will be continued in 2025 - because singing is healthy. It releases feelings of happiness, reduces tension and promotes the development of social, linguistic and communication skills, especially in children. Under the theme ‘Our blue planet’, second and third year pupils from three primary schools in Elmshorn, Holm and Scharbeutz will be exploring questions such as: ‘Why is singing so valuable in everyday life?’ and ‘How can songs be used to describe the earth?’. In collaboration with the SHMF, the primary schools are supported in their music lessons by music teachers who work with the classes to develop a varied programme. The project will conclude with a concert by all the pupils on 11 July in the Holstenhallen Neumünster, where the children will present the songs they have rehearsed. The concert is sponsored by the Georg-Plate-Stiftung, the Claussen-Simon-Stiftung, the Bürgerstiftung Elmshorn, the Unser Norden Stiftung and the Dr Hannelore Murmann family.

»Meisterschüler – Meister«

In the ‘Meisterschüler - Meister’ concert series sponsored by the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe, a star of the music world forms a chamber music ensemble with up-and-coming young talents and passes on his expertise to them. This year, pianist Alice Sara Ott shares her knowledge and wealth of experience with violinist Maya Kasprzak, violist Fridolin Schöbi, cellist Cosima Federle and double bassist Milan Boxberg. The German-Japanese pianist was awarded the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe sponsorship prize at the Musikfest auf dem Lande in 2007 and has long since performed in the world's most important concert halls. Together with the young talents, she is working on a programme centred around Joseph Haydn and his influence on subsequent composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ignaz Pleyel. She will be supported by Thomas Reif, first concertmaster of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. They will present the results of their joint work at concerts in Rellingen and Pronstorf.

Hindemith Prize

The Hindemith Prize, endowed with 20,000 euros, honours outstanding contemporary composers as part of the SHMF. In 2025, the Hamburg composer Benjamin Scheuer will receive the 36th Hindemith Prize. ‘Benjamin Scheuer has found his own language. Using unusual musical instruments, he creates music that is full of humour despite its technical skill. In addition, his ability to enter into dialogue with the audience makes him a remarkable music mediator,’ said Dr Christian Kuhnt, Director of the SHMF, explaining the decision. The prize is sponsored by the Hindemith Foundation (Blonay/Switzerland), the Rudolf and Erika Koch Foundation, the Walther and Käthe Busche Foundation and the Gerhard Trede Foundation, the Free and Hanseatic City of Hamburg and the State of Schleswig-Holstein. The prizewinners' concert will take place on 11 August at the Forum für Baukultur in Kiel.

Leonard Bernstein Award

The Leonard Bernstein Award, which has established itself as a career springboard for young talents in the classical music scene, has been presented at the SHMF since 2002. In 2025, the Leonard Bernstein Award will go to Hayato Sumino from Japan. As a pianist, composer and YouTube star with the stage name ‘Cateen’, he moves between classical music, jazz and pop, between social media and the concert stage, between playfulness and seriousness. Combining tradition and modernity, the 29-year-old reaches a wide audience and at the same time represents a young generation of musicians who draw their artistic inspiration from a broad spectrum. SHMF Director Dr Christian Kuhnt explains the decision in favour of the prizewinner with the words: ‘Hayato Sumino dissolves the boundaries between different musical genres. He improvises with great ease, is an outstanding interpreter of the classical repertoire and possesses an urge for freedom that is very important for jazz.’ The Leonard Bernstein Award is endowed with 10,000 euros and is sponsored by the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe. The award-winning concert will take place on 18 July in Lübeck's Musik- und Kongresshalle. Together with the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra under the direction of Holly Choe, he will perform Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2.

Offers for families 

Family concerts introduce the youngest festival visitors from the age of five to the world of music. In the first family concert, the six musicians from Louie's Cage Percussion transform everyday life into music full of rhythmic precision with their new programme ‘Whoosh!’: from the morning routine to the many facets of a musician's life to an evening watching TV together. In Schleswig and Schenefeld near Hamburg, the percussionists offer plenty of opportunity to groove along, marvel and actively participate. 

In Norderstedt and Bad Oldesloe, the mini.musik ensemble invites young audiences on a trip to the farm. There, the children encounter dancing pigs, egg-laying hens in a concert grand piano and a cow that only gives milk when she hears music. While they plough the field together with the musicians to a bassoon sonata by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, music becomes a physical experience.

For the third time in a row, KiKA presenter Juri Tetzlaff and conductor Holly Choe are organizing an insightful musical orchestral festival together with the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra. In Flensburg and Büdelsdorf, everything revolves around the theme of "friendship": Which melodies were inspired by friendship? How are trust and loyalty reflected in the soundtrack to "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban"? With a mixture of stories and music by Robert Schumann, Dmitri Shostakovich and John Williams, the musicians explore together with the audience how friendship is expressed in music and what role it played in the lives of composers.

In Ahrensburg and Bad Schwartau, Kalle Klang makes little explorers and their grown-up companions smile. His children's songs tell stories from everyday family life with a wink and wordplay - from nighttime hunger to the favorite word "nope" to sleeping problems. He combines various styles such as funk, soul, hip-hop, electro-swing and pop to create a rousing groove.

Two children's music festivals, which will take place on July 19 and 20 at Gut Wotersen, are also aimed specifically at children. Here, young SHMF visitors aged five and above can experience concerts, hands-on activities and a varied supporting program together with their parents and siblings.

The music festivals in the countryside 

They are the heart of the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival: the music festivals in the countryside. On five weekends, the most beautiful estates in Schleswig-Holstein - Hasselburg, Stocksee, Wotersen, Emkendorf and Pronstorf - will open their doors again. In addition to the country and farm idyll, the audience can expect a varied concert program from established artists as well as young talents. The music festivals in the countryside are presented by CITTI. Product partners are Schwartauer Werke, Dithmarscher Privatbrauerei and Fürst Bismarck Mineralwasser.

The programme of the music festivals in the countryside will be published on April 10th.

New venues

In 2025, the Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival will be held for the first time in the Kurhaus Theater in Bad Bramstedt, in the City Theater in Flensburg, on the Menzer-Werft-Platz in Geesthacht and in the Georg-Elser-Halle in Hamburg. Four new venues will be added in Kiel: the KulturForum in the Stadtgalerie, the Metro-Kino in the Schlosshof, the Nordmarksportfeld and the Stephanuskirche. In Lübeck, the Trinity Church, St. Bonifatius and the Haus L14 by Dräger are new additions. In addition, the German Record Museum in Nortorf will celebrate its premiere as an SHMF venue in 2025. Learn more: The SHMF Venues 2025

Sponsorship at SHMF 2025

The Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival has enjoyed broad support from the business world from the very beginning. We would like to thank our partners for their solidarity and their active commitment to good music in the north. With a main sponsorship, the Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe (consisting of the Schleswig-Holstein savings banks, Provinzial Nord Brandkasse AG, LBS Landesbausparkasse NordOst AG, DekaBank and the Sparkassen-Kulturfonds of the German Savings Banks and Giro Association), GP JOULE, NordwestLotto Schleswig-Holstein, as well as our orchestra partner IB.SH, the mobility partner BMW Group and our media partner NDR are making a very significant contribution. We would like to thank the 48 project and concert partnerships and four product partnerships and the 63 partners who support the festival as part of the Business & Music initiative.

This year, new concert partnerships are starting with CTP.BIZ GmbH from Rellingen, ISG Intermed Service GmbH & Co. KG, LADR Der Laborverbund Dr. Kramer & Kollegen GbR from Geesthacht and the city of Geesthacht. Six new members of the Initiative Wirtschaft & Musik are supporting the festival across the board: Coop eG and Flenker Bau GmbH from Schwentinental, Küstenrad E-Bike Stores from Kiel, Norddeutsche Pflanzenzucht Hans-Georg Lembke KG from Holtsee, SVG Straßenverkehrs-Genossenschaft Schleswig-Holstein eG from Neumünster and ttp AG Steuerberatungsgesellschaft from Flensburg.

As a community, all partners shape and form our platform for companies, culture and society with their monetary contributions and personal commitment.

Thanks

The festival would like to thank its generous sponsors Aldra Fenster und Türen GmbH, the Elmshorn Citizens' Foundation, the Großhansdorf Citizens' Foundation, the Association of German North Schleswigers, Dr. Carl Hermann Schleifer, the Claussen-Simon Foundation, the Dr. Hannelore Murmann family, the Georg Plate Foundation, the municipality of Rellingen, the Lübeck Charitable Savings Bank Foundation, the Hanseatic City of Lüneburg, Herbert Voigt GmbH & Co. KG, Kai Kruse (Henry Kruse GmbH & Co. KG), the KIM Kultur in Marne e.V., the KUSS Foundation KulturStiftung Schenefeld, the Musik in der Stadtkirche zu Glückstadt e.V., the Possehl Foundation, the city of Bad Oldesloe, the city of Bad Schwartau, the city of Kappeln, the city of Neumünster, the Stahlberg Foundation, the Sonderburg Municipality, the Sparkasse Holstein Foundations, the Ulbrich Foundation and the Unser Norden Foundation.

The SHMF's indispensable music education activities are generously supported by the Possehl Foundation, the Oscar and Vera Ritter Foundation, the Mathias Tantau Foundation, the Weiland Cultural Foundation Henning Hamkens, the Festival Orchestra's Donors' Circle, the Nordkolleg Rendsburg and the ACO Group. The Fielmann family also continues its patronage of the SHMF.

The festival association, with its approximately 8,600 members, provides significant support for the festival's work with young musicians. The festival orchestra's donors also make a significant contribution with their generous donations. The festival association would also like to thank the 350 or so volunteer advisory board members. They look after the artists from all over the world on site with the help of specially acquired donations and ensure that the festival has a personal feel with their enormous commitment.

Media partner NDR

The NDR is also accompanying the SHMF this year as a reliable media partner. The "Schleswig-Holstein Magazin" regularly reports on the highlights and key events of the music summer. The program "Schleswig-Holstein 18:00" is also dedicated to the SHMF, among other things. There are also regular reports on the SHMF in the radio programs NDR Kultur and NDR Info as well as on NDR 1 Welle Nord, here also Monday to Friday in "Von Binnenland und Waterkant" between 7 and 9 p.m. NDR Kultur is broadcasting the opening concert of the SHMF with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra under the direction of Christoph Eschenbach live on 3sat and on the radio and is also broadcasting other concert recordings that cover the entire musical spectrum of the SHMF program. There are also many artist portraits and concert reports, including in the program "NDR Kultur - Das Journal" on NDR television. A comprehensive overview of the program, concerts and stars, exclusive photos and background information are also available online at → ndr.de/sh and at → ndr.de/kultur as well as in the NDR Schleswig-Holstein app.

One pre-sale, two steps

Pre-sales begin on February 27, 2025. Concert tickets can now be purchased at www.shmf.de. Tickets can also be ordered by email to bestellung@shmf.de or by post (SHMF ticket office, PO Box 3840, 24037 Kiel). Pre-sales by phone begin on March 14, 2025. From then on, SHMF tickets can be ordered via the ticket hotline (+49 (0) 431-23 70 70).