During the three-month festival summer, the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival brings music to the most beautiful places in the state from mid-June to mid-September - whether in old manor houses, barns, factory halls, castles and churches or in the open air. Promising young musicians perform alongside world-famous soloists and international orchestras. The annually changing prizewinner in residence shapes the festival summer with around 20 concerts.
This year is a very special one for the Festspiele MV: the festival is turning 35, just like the federal state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Anne-Sophie Mutter, Kent Nagano and Katja Riemann are among the well-wishers and the cellist Anastasia Kobekina shapes the festival summer as prizewinner in residence.
Anne-Sophie Mutter © Bastian Achard
The celebrations will be suitably proud!
On 26 and 27 July, the birthday party is on the program in Ulrichshusen under the title "360° Festspiele MV": fifteen Festival Award winners will perform in various formations and indulge in memories, including Veronika Eberle, Daniel Müller-Schott and Matthias Schorn. On August 29 and 30 and June 19 and 20, the latter two will also have their own (orchestral) concerts dedicated to them, as they are also celebrating anniversaries: the cellist and the clarinettist have been part of the family for thirty and twenty years respectively as Festival prizewinners.
There will also be celebrations at the grand Bothmer Open Air on August 23 and 24, which will feature the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra, the NDR Big Band and the NDR Vokalensemble with stars such as María Dueñas, Dietmar Bär and Annette Frier. The MV Festival will be setting up a concert hall under the trees for two days in Bothmer Castle Park in Klützer Winkel, creating an Eldorado for music lovers with classical and swing music.Daniel Hope will also be among the well-wishers - with the congenial violinist and violist Pinchas Zukerman and his Zurich Chamber Orchestra, he will set off musical fireworks in Ulrichshusen on June 28 and in Redefin on June 29 and will talk to all former directors of the MV Festival and the current incumbent at Hope@Ulrichshusen (also on June 28). Actress Katja Riemann will also be in Ulrichshusen on 13 September with her program "Karneval des Glücks".
Open air at Bothmer Castle © Oliver Borchert
In total, the classical music festival will host well over 250 soloists and ensembles in summer 2025. In addition to the major orchestral concerts (with Kent Nagano and the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra on 4 July in Stolpe and Anne-Sophie Mutter, Vasily Petrenko and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra on 31 August in Redefin), exciting programs with the prizewinner in residence, rousing vocal performances (with the Dresdner Kreuzchor on 3 and 4 July) and enchanting chamber concerts, it will once again feature its "Not Quite Classical" program, which now comprises almost a fifth of the concerts. Names such as Ulrich Tukur and Die Rhythmus Boys (July 6 in Torgelow), Johannes Strate, frontman of the band Revolverheld, who will perform together with classical pianist Sebastian Knauer (July 5, Fleesensee), or an open air with the Jazzrausch Bigband at Wismar harbour or a performance at the Kulturbahnhof Greifswald (July 12 and 13) are just a few. The jazz series "Grenzgänge" and the Detect Classic Festival in Bröllin (August 8 to 10) are just a few examples of the wide variety on offer.Even the little ones won't miss out. In addition to the traditional children's and family festival in Hasenwinkel on the first Sunday, June 15, and the Schwerin Bicycle Concert with its own children's stage on July 20, three children's and family concerts are planned, including a back-to-school concert in Stralsund on September 7.
All in all, the anniversary festival summer offers 136 concerts, framed as always by many country tours and guided tours in exciting locations. 96 different locations, from manor houses to iron foundries, will become festival venues this summer, six of which are celebrating their festival premiere and are therefore new concert venues. These include the "Mecki" cultural center in Hagenow and the Udars manor house on the island of Rügen, which will be presented in more detail in the "Sleeping Beauties" series. The series offers the opportunity to take a closer look at historical monuments.
June 13 to September 14, 2025
https://festspiele-mv.de
Prizewinner in Residence Anastasia Kobekina © Lusine Pepanyan
