Mayor Katja Dörner is looking forward to the upcoming Beethovenfest: "From high-calibre to low-threshold, there is something for everyone in the 2025 festival program. And with its diverse events and formats, the Beethovenfest will once again get our city buzzing. A big thank you to Steven Walter and his team!"

After a contemplative prologue on Thursday evening in Bonn Minster, the festival will begin on Friday, August 29, with the opening concert of the Aurora Orchestra conducted by Nicholas Collon at Bonn Opera House. The soloist will be violinist Alena Baeva. At the same time, the Beethovenfest, together with the DHL Group, invites you to a free open-air concert on Bonn's market square: rapper Samy Deluxe meets Miki's Takeover! Ensemble and presents his album "Hochkultur" in a classical setting, free of charge and outdoors.

On Saturday, August 30, Bonn's city center will become an open stage: more than 1,000 music students from the region will perform on several stages in the "Bühne frei" format. A special highlight is the "Symphonic Mob" on the market square - an open participatory concert with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin under the direction of Anja Bihlmaier. The event is made possible by Sparkasse KölnBonn and invites amateurs and professionals alike to make music together.

Cellist Anastasia Kobekina is a resident artist at the festival with three concerts, including an evening on September 6 with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra under the direction of Maxim Emelyanychev. Emelyanychev will also conduct "his" Scottish Chamber Orchestra at the festival on September 26. The Jerusalem Quartet, this year's resident ensemble, will be performing all of Dmitri Shostakovich's string quartets. In the year of the 50th anniversary of his death, the quartet will bring the works to Bonn on several evenings and, for the first time, to Cologne in cooperation with the Cologne Philharmonic Orchestra.

Other highlights include the debut of cellist Kian Soltani with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester Berlin on August 31, a Broadway program with soprano Golda Schultz and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe on August 30, the 12 cellists of the Berliner Philharmoniker on September 21, the continuation of Fabian Müller's Beethoven sonata cycle in four concerts as well as top-class chamber music in the Rhein-Sieg district, including a concert with the Stegreif Orchester on September 5 in Siegburg.

In cooperation with Theater Bonn, two performances by French star choreographer Yoann Bourgeois can be experienced at the opera on September 4 and 5, combining music and movement together with pianist Olga Scheps. The festival also remains musically open to new sound spaces: rapper Souly will perform an intimate concert in the Kreuzkirche on September 11, supported by Telekom Electronic Beats. With the Fellowship program, the Beethovenfest is once again offering five artists the opportunity to follow in Beethoven's footsteps, develop their own projects and bring them to the stage. The 2025 cohort consists of composer Ketan Batthi, percussionist Bernhard Schimpelsberger, bass trombonist Maxine Troglauer, dramaturge Hannah Baumann and cellist Jakob Nierenz. Made possible by the Romy Gohlke Foundation, the Beethovenfest Talents support program will also be launched, which specifically presents young musical talents and integrates them into the festival.

The festival features many low-threshold, barrier-free and participatory formats that provide easy access to the musical world of the Beethovenfest for a wide range of target groups.

Rebekka Salomea, artistic head of the Cologne-based band Salomea, is this year's Beethovenfest Content Creator and is developing her own format for the festival's digital channels that revolves around listening. You can also experience it offline on September 6, as a listening session with saxophonist Cassie Kanoshi at Fabrik 45.

With Juri de Marco, the festival has a community musician for the first time, who will be working in Bonn's Tannenbusch district in 2025. From 10 June, he will be offering a free community choir and jam open to all target groups at the Vielinbusch district center.

In cooperation with Deutsche Welle, the festival is also making six concerts and the opening lecture with Maja Göpel on August 29 available to a wide audience via livestream, streamed on www.beethovenfest.de and the YouTube channel DW Classical Music.

The festival headquarters will once again be set up on Kaiserplatz in front of the Kreuzkirche. Tickets, merchandising articles and hands-on activities will be available on site. Advance ticket sales for the Beethovenfest 2025 begin on May 12 at 12 noon:

- online at  beethovenfest.de (opens in a new tab)

- via the ticket hotline +49 (0)228 - 20 10 3 44 (Mon-Fri, 9 am - 3 pm)

- as well as at the Haus der Springmaus ticket store and the Martin Ruland concert and ticket store