2023 Festival

Dear friends of the Herrenchiemsee Festival,

It was a matter of great pleasure for us that the Herrenchiemsee Festival was able to take place again under reasonably normal conditions in summer 2022 after the long pandemic-enforced break. The response from both audience and press was extremely positive and over 95 per cent of seats were sold, meaning that this past summer was one of the most successful in the Festival’s 20-year history. We are so grateful to our audience for remaining loyal to us through the difficult times of the last few years.

We are delighted to present the 2023 Herrenchiemsee Festival. Under our motto, ‘The Earth’s Great Clamour’, our selected programmes will take you through musical epochs and European history. The term refers to a statement by King Ludwig II, who may well have understood the expression to mean the din of the emerging big cities, the sabre-rattling of quarrelling nations or the onset of industrialisation.

But the ‘earth’s clamour’ can mean so much more – especially in music. Think of the Big Bang in Haydn’s ‘Creation’ or the roar of the elements in works by Vivaldi and Rebel. The sacred mysteries of the Renaissance masters or Bach’s powerful ‘Archangel Michael’ cantatas also bear witness to turmoil. And everyone who listens to Beethoven’s works, signalling upheaval, renewal and progress, also feels the awakening of the external world deep within themselves – and similarly for the masterpieces of Romantic symphonic music by Schubert and Schumann.

A second focus of the 2023 programme is dedicated to the work of Joseph Haydn. Not only is he considered an important representative of Viennese Classicism, but there is probably no other composer before or since who changed Western music more profoundly, especially through his influence as a European cosmopolitan.

We consider ourselves extremely fortunate that our patron Kent Nagano will conduct four different concert programmes with three ensembles during this year’s Festival. In addition, we welcome numerous internationally renowned artists and ensembles – some who are returning to visit us, others who are looking forward to making their debut.

So come with us on a musical voyage of discovery. We warmly invite you to visit the Herrenchiemsee Festival in the summer of 2023.

Josef Kröner
Executive Director