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The 2024 Dresdner Musikfestspiele – a flashback in pictures

From Wagner’s »Walküre« to the rock icon Sting, from the King’s Singers to the Jazzrausch Bigband – the Dresdner Musikfestspiele looks back on one of the stylistically most diverse editions in its almost 50 years of history.

Eröffnungskonzert: Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra & Klaus Mäkelä
Richard Wagner »Die Walküre«
Harald Lesch & Merlin Ensemble Wien
Abel Selaocoe
Musica non grata
Eldbjørg Hemsing
ÄTNA, Dresdner Kapellsolisten & Jan Vogler
Simone Kermes & Amici Veneziani
Stacey Kent
Dresen singt & musiziert
Anton Mejias
The King's Singers
Jane Monheit
Hélène Grimaud & Camerata Salzburg
Mammal Hands
Sting
Thomas Quasthoff
Daniel Lozhakovich, Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra & Manfred Honeck
Daniel Hope, Jan Vogler, Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin & Anna Rakitina
Jan Vogler, Philharmonia Orchestra & Santtu-Matias Rouvali
Jordi Savall
Igor Levit
Matthias Goerne & Alexander Schmalcz
Jeanine De Bique & Concerto Köln
Elena Urioste & Chineke! Orchestra
Anoushka Shankar
Die Nacht der jungen Stars
Raphaela Gromes & Julian Riem
Astrid Nordstad, Dresdner Festspielorchester & Marc Minkowski
Abschlusskonzert: Tschechsiche Philharmonie & Jakub Hrůša

© Oliver Killig, Stephan Floss

During the past four and a half weeks, approximately 65,000 visitors attended its 60 events. At 93 percent, the rate of occupied seats demonstrates that the audience is highly enthusiastic about the Festival’s expansion of its stylistic scope. With ticket revenues exceeding more than2 million Euros, the 2024 Dresdner Musikfestspiele has just completed its most successful edition ever.

»We took great risks, and we reaped great rewards. The diversity of genres convinced our audience, making 2024 the most successful year in our history,» says Jan Vogler, Artistic Director of the Dresdner Musikfestspiele.

Highlights of this year’s Dresdner Musikfestspiele included the concert performance of Wagner’s »Die Walküre«using historical instruments by the Dresdner Festspielorchester and Concerto Köln under the baton of Kent Nagano, a brilliant opening concert with the Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam under Klaus Mäkelä, a performance by Hélène Grimaud & Camerata Salzburg and a recital by Igor Levit. Marking halftime of the Festival period, the 17-time Grammy winner Sting began his annual world tour before 4,400 delighted fans at Dresden’s Messe. With the Philharmonia Orchestra, the Festival also featured a first-rate orchestra from Great Britain, bringing the acclaimed Dresden premiere of Anna Clyne’s »Dance«, a concerto for cello and orchestra, to the Kulturpalast, with Jan Vogler as the soloist and Santtu-Matias Rouvali conducting. During the »Night of the Young Stars«, Jan Vogler and Martin Grubinger presented eight rising young musicians from the classical and jazz world – a combination that will most likely never again occur live on stage. Furthermore, performers such as Anoushka Shankar, Jeanine de Bique and Stacey Kent broadened their listeners’ musical horizons.

There will be a brief Festival intermezzo in September: a superlative trio, consisting of the violinist Leonidas Kavakos, cellist Yo-Yo Ma and pianist Emanuel Ex, performs on September 2, 2024 at the Kulturpalast; on September 17, the Vienna Philharmonic and Christian Thielemann return to Dresden (the latter concert is already sold out).

The 48th Dresdner Musikfestspiele takes place from May 17 to June 14, 2025.