Following the promising motto "Seduction", with which Cornelia Bend guided her audience through Schwetzingen Palace and Gardens for the first time in spring 2025, the Schwetzingen SWR Festival in 2026 is dedicated to a quality that seems more urgent than ever in our present day: attitude.
Where previously the focus was on magic, the focus is now on orientation, dialog and the power of the artistic statement. Bend understands "attitude" as an inner compass in the noise of the world - a spiritual orientation that develops from the encounter with art as well as from the shared experience of an audience that wants to be touched, irritated and inspired. In this way, the festival will once again become a space in which aesthetic curiosity and social self-questioning are mutually enriching.
Opera will be at the heart of the 2026 season - both staged and in concert. To mark the 100th birthday of Ingeborg Bachmann, the opening of the festival will be a literary and musical event: the world premiere of Malina, composed by Karola Obermüller and Peter Gilbert based on the libretto by Tina Hartmann, ventures a deep look into the abysses and vulnerabilities of female identity. Questions about voice, gender and authority are translated into powerful musical images - a prelude that charges the theme of "attitude" with artistic precision.
Sophie Pacini © Vitaliy Bachaco
Monteverdi's L'Orfeo also completes the Nationaltheater Mannheim's celebrated Monteverdi cycle. Under the direction of Jörg Halubek and his ensemble Il Gusto Barocco, the work returns to the intimate Rococo Theater - a place that has always made the breath of opera history palpable. Halubek is one of the artists in residence in 2026, as are pianist Sophie Pacini, the Signum Quartet and its partner ensembles, who fill the traditional string quartet Sunday with fresh energy.
With Dorothee Oberlinger, celebrated recorder player and conductor, the festival also has a resident artist whose projects - including an evening of "Siren Songs" - add sonic sophistication to the program. Renowned voices such as Lea Desandre, Andreas Scholl and Julian Prégardien mark further highlights.
Bizet's CarMEN in a surprisingly modern interpretation by the Dutch Club Classique, a cheeky, lively Fledermaus by Boris Aljinovic or Rameau's Pygmalion under Christophe Rousset show how diverse attitude can sound on stage.
The 2026 Festival thus combines artistic ambition, passion for performance and a clear attitude towards the world - a festival that not only accompanies its visitors, but moves them.
April 24 to May 24, 2026
www.schwetzinger-festspiele.de
Julian Prégardien © Chris Gonz
