Dear friends of the Herrenchiemsee Festival!

The 25th Herrenchiemsee Festival! We cordially invite you to celebrate this anniversary with us and with outstanding ensembles and soloists. A celebration that we owe in particular to you, your enthusiasm, and your loyalty to Herrenchiemsee! “Transcending the world” – Let us follow in the footsteps of Ludwig II together in the summer of 2026, when the incomparable architecture of Frauenchiemsee Cathedral and the former royal palace on Herreninsel will be united for the 25th time with exquisite musical events to form the total work of art that is the “Herrenchiemsee Festival.”

The mystical, meditative atmosphere of the Frauenmünster and the Hall of Mirrors in the Royal Palace, with its incomparable acoustics, may be the reason why the Herrenchiemsee Festival has become a special venue, particularly for leading early music ensembles. Away from the major music capitals of Munich and Salzburg, the Herrenchiemsee Festival offers these artists a stage where music and ambience blend into a perfect harmony. It is a special honor for us, in this anniversary year, to be able to experience such renowned ensembles as Concentus Musicus Wien, Europa Galante, Il Pomo d’Oro, and the Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century in the Hall of Mirrors at the Royal Palace—together with Concerto Köln, the Hofkapelle München, and the Finnish Baroque Orchestra—in a true celebration of early music. In addition, we welcome Kent Nagano to the podium of the KlangVerwaltung orchestra and choir. We look forward to “Les Essences,” the Munich Chamber Orchestra, and the Basel Chamber Orchestra.
Our special thanks go to our two patrons, His Royal Highness Duke Franz of Bavaria and Kent Nagano, who have supported our festival for many years.

In keeping with the festival’s tradition, the 25th Herrenchiemsee Festival is also committed to the European ideal, the values of humanism and humanity, and a diversity of art and culture that has consistently shaped our programs over the years. We follow Mozart’s travels through Europe and experience the diversity of European musical cultures from Gustav Mahler to Frédéric Chopin. And we celebrate Europe at the end with Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, in whose final movement he set Friedrich Schiller’s “Ode to Joy” to music. In 1972, the Council of Europe declared this melody its anthem, and in 1985 it was adopted by the EU heads of state and government as the official anthem of the European Union. “Without words, only in the universal language of music, it expresses the European values of freedom, peace, and solidarity,” according to the official statement by the European Union. There is nothing more to add to that…

With this in mind, we cordially invite you to the 25th Herrenchiemsee Festival. We look forward to seeing you there!

Sincerely, Josef Kröner
Executive Director