104 talents from all over the world: the 2026 festival orchestra is complete
- public dress rehearsals on sale now

They have qualified in auditions over the winter months and will come together in Rendsburg on 28 June from all over the world - 104 highly exciting young musical talents from South Korea, Canada, Argentina, Venezuela, Japan and Spain, among others.

They will live together for seven weeks and rehearse six different symphony concert programmes in five rehearsal phases. They will learn from internationally renowned conductors such as Teddy Abrams, Andrew Manze, Katharina Wincor, Stefan Geiger, Holly Choe and Principal Conductor Christoph Eschenbach.

The orchestra will perform a total of 17 concerts in locations such as Lübeck, Kiel and Hamburg, but also in Rendsburg, Elmshorn, Neumünster, Husum, Lüneburg and on the island of Föhr. The musicians, who are no more than 26 years old, will share the stage with trombonist Nils Landgren, violist Tabea Zimmermann, violinist Ray Chen, cellist Kian Soltani and KiKA presenter Juri Tetzlaff.

Tickets are still available for the two film concerts "The Artist"(8 August in Lübeck and 9 August in Lüneburg), for an orchestra festival for the whole family with KiKa presenter Juri Tetzlaff(5 August in Lüneburg) and for the concert with violinist Ray Chen(2 August in Husum).

The complete line-up of this year's festival orchestra and all rehearsal dates can be found here.

The popular dress rehearsals - on sale now

The orchestra's public dress rehearsals in the ACO Thormannhalle in Rendsburg-Büdelsdorf are a special experience for the audience. It's worth being there when the finishing touches are being applied before the performance, when interpretations and challenging passages are being worked out.

An overview of all dress rehearsals and the opportunity to purchase tickets can be found here, and tickets can also be booked by telephone on 0431-23 70 70. Depending on availability, tickets are also available at the box office.

Dates and information on the other public rehearsals (all rehearsals except dress rehearsals) are available one week before the start of the respective rehearsal phase here and by telephone on 0451-389 57 20. Tickets for these rehearsals can only be purchased at the box office (€ 8,- / reduced € 6,-).

The Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra

The Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra was founded in 1987 by Leonard Bernstein and is reorganised every year. Since then, over 100 young musicians have qualified year after year at auditions in Europe, Asia, North and South America. They receive a scholarship that includes a stay at the Nordkolleg Rendsburg during the festival season from the end of June to the end of August as well as intensive rehearsal phases with renowned conductors.

Thank you

The SHMF would like to thank its orchestra partner Investitionsbank Schleswig-Holstein (IB.SH) as well as Johanna and Hans-Julius Ahlmann, the ACO Group, the NordArt team, the Mathias Tantau Foundation, the Fielmann Förderstiftung, the Oscar and Vera Ritter Foundation, the Weiland Kulturstiftung Henning Hamkens, the Nordkolleg Rendsburg, Yamaha and Carlsberg Deutschland GmbH.