2026 Dresdner Musikfestspiele under the sign of lightness

Artistic Director Jan Vogler has given the 49th edition of the festival, running from May 14 to June 14, 2026, the theme "Lightness of Being" — and this year he is expanding the festival’s range of genres to include theater and comedy.

The festival will open on a humorous note when the Dresden Philharmonic, conducted by Tabita Berglund, shares the stage with comedian Olaf Schubert. Audiences can also look forward to the third edition of Cellomania, featuring around 30 star cellists from all over the world, as well as the residency of the London Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of Edward Gardner, with a special focus on the works of Edward Elgar. With Richard Wagner’s Götterdämmerung performed in historical performance practice, the Dresdner Festspielorchester and Concerto Köln, conducted by Kent Nagano, will present the final installment of the project The Wagner Cycles, which since 2023 have become synonymous with a new Wagner sound emerging from Dresden.

»Lightness is life’s highest art. With musical peak performances, the 2026 Dresdner Musikfestspiele explore the lightness of being over four exciting weeks, night after night,« says Jan Vogler, Artistic Director of the Dresdner Musikfestspiele.

The “Lightness of Being” runs like a common thread through all 64 events, which span not only classical music and opera but also jazz, world music, crossover, dance, theater, readings, and performance art. Nearly 30 artists and ensembles will make their Dresdner Musikfestspiele debuts in 2026, including Austrian actor Tobias Moretti, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra, Joja Wendt & Bastian Pastewka, and pianist and YouTube star Hayato Sumino, known as “Cateen.” Audiences can look forward to the return of pianists Chilly Gonzales, Igor Levit, and Martha Argerich, actress Martina Gedeck, singer Noa, trumpeter Till Brönner, and horn player Sarah Willis, who will bring her ensemble The Sarahbanda to Dresden for the first time. As part of the cello festival Cellomania, Kian Soltani will bring great film music to life on the cello, while Alisa Weilerstein’s Fragments will take Johann Sebastian Bach’s cello suites into new dimensions by placing them in dialogue with commissioned works by contemporary composers. A highlight—alongside the Long Night of the Cello — is Late Night Baroque, where five cellists and musicians of the Dresdner Festspielorchester will present the sound of Vivaldi’s cello concertos first on steel strings and then on gut strings. The final concert promises a humorous reunion with Hollywood legend Bill Murray, who together with Jan Vogler, Mira Wang, and Vanessa Perez will lend timeless lightness to literary classics accompanied by music by Bach, Bernstein, Gershwin, and Piazzolla.