La Grande Gare
Autumn Festival
When does the modern age actually begin? The usual answer is "around 1900," but for cultural history, the era of constant questioning already begins with Romanticism. Specifically, with Beethoven and Rossini, the most famous composers of their time, who were each driven in their own way. We are presenting Rossini's fairy tale La Cenerentola (Cinderella) – a signature role, by the way, of the great Pauline Viardot, a resident of Baden-Baden. Beethoven's Seventh Symphony and Rossini's operas brought the mechanical frenzy into music around the time when the term "railway" was first mentioned. Shortly afterward, the work of J. S. Bach was rediscovered, an occasion to pause and savor the event – and to found many middle-class choirs. What would German democracy be without its choirs and associations, those social training grounds of self-determination? Growing beyond ourselves: this is what everyone will experience who participates in our European Singfest.
Program 2025
FRI 14.11.25/SUN 16.11.25
CINDERELLA
Rossini's La CenerentolaNaturally he got off the train in Baden-Baden on his spa trip through Germany in 1856. The world-famous Gioacchino Rossini was well established in the glamorous summer capital; after all, the German premiere of his Stabat Mater had taken place here in the old theater in 1842.
SAT 15.11.25
AN INVITATION FROM THOMAS HENGELBROCK
When the term "musical salon" comes up, Pauline Viardot and Richard Pohl are sure to be mentioned in Baden-Baden. After her career, the French star soprano from the nineteenth century hosted a prominent salon in Baden-Baden featuring music and conversations.
WED 19.11.25
THE QUEEN OF VOICE
An evening devoted to Pauline Viardot-GarcíaPauline Viardot-García was one of the great artistic personalities of the nineteenth century. The soprano filled opera houses throughout Europe and inspired many composers. In Baden-Baden, she lived with her husband and the Russian writer Ivan Turgenev in a legendary ménage à trois. The musical-literary evening harks back to this great era.
FRI 21.11.25
IMMORTAL BELOVED
Masterpieces by BeethovenBeethoven's ambassador Maurice Schlesinger – actually "Moritz," originally "Mora Abraham" – was a Parisian music publisher based in Baden-Baden who devoted his life to promoting works by German composers in France. In Vienna, he met Beethoven and secured the rights for his last piano sonatas. One more reason to celebrate the composer in our city today! This time with two of his most popular works: the Seventh Symphony and the Violin Concerto.
SAT 15.11.25/SUN 16.11.25/SAT 22.11.25/SAT 23.11.25
EUROPEAN SINGFEST
The Singfest is a permanent fixture at the Autumn Festival. Amateurs sing with professionals, and at the end they step on stage together. Everyone can participate in the project choir under the guidance of the instructors from the Balthasar Neumann Choir. Are you ready to let your voice be heard? Sign up for the workshops! The highlight will be a concert on the big stage in the Festspielhaus, to the thunderous applause of an enthusiastic audience. Anyone who has ever stood on the Festspielhaus stage will certainly agree: an unforgettable experience.
SAT 22.11.25
SING TO THE LORD
Bach and the romanticsThey are a must: what could be called the Brandenburg Concertos of choral music. But any comparison is inadequate when it comes to Bach's motets, which are among the most beautiful and moving pieces ever written for choir. And also the most difficult: clear enunciation of the text and suitable expression are the singer’s first duty.
