Maulbronn Abbey is a very special place of education. With the Reformation, the Cistercian abbey, founded in 1147, was transformed into a monastery school, which has existed since 1556 to this day. Among the most famous students at Maulbronn were the astronomer and theologian Johannes Kepler, Friedrich Hölderlin and Hermann Hesse. Since 1968, the Protestant seminary has organized an annual music festival, the Monastery Concerts, whose venue has also been a UNESCO World Heritage Site for over 30 years.
The monastery's educational tradition is brought to life in the opening concert, as the current pupils of the boarding school take to the stage with the choir of the Protestant Seminary. Together with the Karlsruhe Baroque Orchestra and renowned soloists, they will perform Handel's Alexander's Feast - an oratorio about the power of music - on May 24 and 25. With other events this season, the monastery concerts place a special focus on programs for young people and with young people: for example, the Wandelkonzert with prizewinners of the national competition "Jugend musiziert" from Baden-Württemberg on 5 July or the school concerts with the ensemble Die Schurken on 11 July.
The concerts by the Maulbronn Chamber Choir are one of the cornerstones of the monastery concerts. This time, the choir, which was also formed from former students of the seminary, will perform an a cappella concert at the monastery concerts on July 6. The ensemble continues its cycle with Der moderne Mendelssohn, in which Felix Mendelssohn's 98th Psalm, Lauda Sion and his Christus fragment are juxtaposed with a Da Vinci Requiem by British composer Cecilia McDowall on September 27 and 28.
Maulbronn Chamber Choir © Conrad Schmitz
This year's organ concerts on the Grenzing organ will feature, among others, the multiple award-winning 20-year-old organist Julian Emanuel Becker. The pianist and permanent artist-in-residence Bernd Glemser will once again be inviting renowned partners to the chamber music week on the podium of the lay refectory from September 5 to 13.
An absolute highlight of the festival program are the popular open-air concerts, including Canadian Brass on 13 July in the Kreuzganggarten, which will be transformed into a Spanish arena.
Other highlights include a musical and literary evening with actor Matthias Brandt and pianist Jens Thomas on May 30, exciting chamber music with the Isidore Quartet on June 1 or with clarinettist Sebastian Manz & Friends on June 20, an extravagant song recital with new interpretations of works by Franz Schubert with The Erlkings on June 22 or the vocal concerts with the Slovenian Ingenium Ensemble on June 29 and with the Latvian Voices in the Kreuzganggarten on July 18.
May 24 to September 28, 2025
