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The Whitsun Festival Baden-Baden 2026 will be centering around the SWR Symphonieorchester. International soloists and splendidly curated chamber music programs define the Festival’s musical profile.
Der Rosenkavalier is a waltz opera! It doesn't matter that during the Rococo period the Viennese danced to minuets. Or that the Viennese element in Der Rosenkavalier is an artistic language invented by Hugo von Hofmannsthal – the poet's libretto is already a work of art in itself. And then the music! Contemporary audiences were so enthusiastic that special trains were arranged to take them to the first performances. The opera inaugurates the Whitsun Festival, sung by dream voices down to the smallest role. In this concert-version performance, the SWR Symphonieorchester shines under chief conductor François-Xavier Roth. And after Der Rosenkavalier? Music from the fin de siècle and Rococo eras. In addition, between minuets and waltzes we will be hearing swinging jazz arrangements. Strauss, we’re sure, would be delighted by this rose bouquet.
About the Festival Baden-Baden
Festspiel Baden-Baden (Baden-Baden Festival) is a series of festivals presented by the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden in Baden-Baden, Germany. The programme is structured around five annual festival periods dispersed throughout the year. The Easter, Whitsun, Summer, Autumn and Winter Festivals each incorporate at least one opera production and several classical concerts.
A typical year contains four festivals of one week each:
Autumn Festival in early October.
Winter Festival from mid-January.
Easter Festival during Holy Week.
Herbert von Karajan Whitsun Festival in late May to early June.
Summer Festival from early July.
Major opera productions at Festspielhaus Baden-Baden to date include La traviata (Valery Gergiev, conductor / Philippe Arlaud, director, 2001), Fidelio (Simone Young, conductor / Philippe Arlaud, director, 2002), Die Entführung aus dem Serail (Marc Minkowski, conductor / Macha Makeïeff and Jérôme Deschamps, directors, 2003), The Ring of the Nibelung (Valery Gergiev, musical direction and concept / George Tsypin, stage design, 2003/2004), Rigoletto (Thomas Hengelbrock, conductor / Philippe Arlaud, director, 2004), Parsifal (Kent Nagano, conductor / Nikolaus Lehnhoff, director, 2004) and Die Zauberflöte (Claudio Abbado, conductor / Daniele Abbado, director, 2005).
