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It\u2019s with very great pleasure that we feature this guide to the best classical music festivals in Europe.\u00a0 The last two seasons have been particularly challenging for live music making, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, and many festivals have been forced to downgrade activities or cancel performances altogether.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n It\u2019s hugely gratifying, then, to see most events back up and running at full capacity in 2022, in what promises to be a summer of top-notch musical activity. We\u2019re greatly looking forward to what this festival season has to offer \u2013 and please do get in touch to share your own experiences over these next exciting months.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Dresden, Germany, Tel.<\/span> +49 (0)351 6560 6700<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Web:<\/span> www.musikfestspiele.com<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n There\u2019s magic in the air for the 45th edition of Dresden Festival\u2019s month-long jamboree, corralling some 1,500 artists and a swathe of historic venues in its 66 concerts. Opening night features a multi-media production of Mozart\u2019s The\u00a0Magic Flute <\/i>directed by Roman Coppola; and there\u2019s more sorcery from Thomas Ad\u00e8s<\/a><\/strong> who premieres a suite from his opera The\u00a0Tempest<\/i>. With cellist Jan Vogler as the festival\u2019s artistic director, \u2018Cello Mania\u2019 returns, culminating in a \u2018Long\u00a0Night of the Cello\u2019 mustering nearly 20 cellists including the likes of Mischa Maisky, Gautier Capu\u00e7on, Sol Gabetta, Pablo Ferr\u00e1ndez and Sheku Kanneh-Mason<\/a><\/strong>.<\/span><\/p>\n Halle, Germany, 27 May \u2013 12 June<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Tel.<\/span> +49 (0)345 565 2706<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Web: <\/span>www.haendelhaus.de<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n His statue looms large over Halle\u2019s market <\/span>square, and for 100 years the town of his birth has hosted a bespoke festival. For its centenary, Christian Curnyn conducts a new production of Orlando<\/i>; <\/span>Il\u00a0Pomo d\u2019Oro uncages \u2018Handel\u2019s Bestiary\u2019; and a clutch of gala concerts showcase the <\/span>likes of Philippe Jaroussky (as conductor), countertenor Iestyn Davies and Jordi Savall\u2019s Le Concert des Nations.<\/span><\/p>\n Leipzig, Germany, 9-19 June<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Tel. <\/span>+49 (0)1806 999000 345<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Web:<\/span> www.bachfestleipzig.de<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Who knew? In only two years the Johann Sebastian Bach Forest has planted six hectares with over 33,000 trees. And it\u2019s not just the Forest that\u2019s cultivating sturdy rootstock. Leipzig \u201922 is looking at Bach\u2019s own musical roots in the works of Buxtehude, Reincken, Bruhns and, in his anniversary year, Sch\u00fctz. The 300th birthday of the Well-Tempered Clavier <\/i><\/a><\/strong>entices Angela Hewitt and Andr\u00e1s Schiff; and under the motto \u2018We are Family\u2019, the entire Bach clan is celebrated by artists including John Eliot Gardiner\u2019s Monteverdi Choir, Les Arts Florissants and Amsterdam Baroque.<\/span><\/p>\n Munich, Germany, 19 June \u2013 31 July <\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Tel.<\/span> +49 (0)89 2185 1025<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Web:<\/span> www.staatsoper.de<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Serge Dorny is the incoming artistic director of Bavaria\u2019s annual summer operatic frenzy. He certainly cuts a dash with his opening choice: Penderecki\u2019s The Devils of Loudun<\/i>. A Straussian foursome includes Capriccio<\/i> (premiered in the Nationaltheater 80 years ago) and, to end, Die Frau ohne Schatten<\/i>. Other 20th-century operas include Shostakovich<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s The Nose<\/i> and Britten<\/a><\/strong>\u2019s Peter Grimes<\/i><\/a><\/strong>. Away from the operatic stage, \u2018on song\u2019 are Christian Gerhaher (three times over), Jonas Kaufmann and Anja Harteros. <\/span><\/p>\n Leipzig, Germany, 20 June \u2013 14 July<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Tel. <\/span>+49 (0)341 1261 261<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Web: <\/span>www.oper-leipzig.de<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n JS Bach isn\u2019t Leipzig\u2019s only musical son. The newly married Schumanns lived here, and their friend Felix Mendelssohn spent a dozen years as Gewandhauskapellmeister. But Richard Wagner was actually born in the city, and Leipzig\u2019s opera festival is indulging itself in a three-week chronological presentation of all 13 of his operas \u2013 save for the Ring<\/i>, which is performed on four consecutive nights.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n Prague, Czech Republic, 12 May \u2013 3 June <\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Tel. <\/span>+420 461 049 232<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Web: www.festival.cz\/en<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Smetana\u2019s M\u00e1 Vlast <\/i>might be mandatory to launch a Prague musical spring, but the festival has never been proprietorial. This year, national pride is entrusted to Daniel Barenboim<\/a><\/strong> and his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, and they\u2019re not the only visiting orchestral heavyweights. Andris Nelsons conducts the Vienna Philharmonic and Fran\u00e7ois-Xavier \u00a0<\/p>\n Bergen, Norway, 25 May \u2013 8 June<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Tel: <\/span>+47 55 21 06 30<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Web:<\/span> www.fib.no<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Bergen wears its 70 years lightly. After the opening al\u00a0fresco sing-along, it\u2019s down to business with the world premiere of an orchestral arrangement of Taylor Mac\u2019s A 24-decade history of popular music<\/i>, described as a \u2018mash-up of music, history, performance and art that were popular throughout the country from 1776 to the present day\u2019. The Bergen Philharmonic also engages in a bit of time travel, in the company of Roomful of Teeth, in Stravinsky\u2019s The Rite of Spring<\/i> and a new work by Caroline Shaw. Strauss\u2019s Salome<\/i> and a stripped-down operatic take on Dante\u2019s Purgatorio<\/i> offset piano music in Grieg\u2019s parlour, and an evening of Grieg, Strauss and Wagner from Norwegian soprano Lise Davidsen.<\/span><\/p>\n Lismore, Ireland, 31 May \u2013 6 June<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Web: <\/span>blackwatervalleyoperafestival.com<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n To the season of mists and mellow fruitfulness belongs Ireland\u2019s most famous opera festival: Wexford. But in summer, Lismore Castle is the hub for an ambitious relative newcomer. The Irish Baroque Orchestra and CoisC\u00e9im Dance Theatre under conductor Peter Whelan perform the Vienna version of Gluck\u2019s Orfeo ed Euridice<\/i>, while in the converted barn at Dromore Yard, pianist Giovanni Bellucci unpacks the Orpheus myth.<\/span><\/p>\n Paris, France, 31 May \u2013 3 July <\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Tel. <\/span>+33 (0)1 4813 1210<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Web:<\/span> www.festival-saint-denis.com<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Dividing its musical largesse between the lofty Gothic basilica \u2013 final resting place to many French kings and queens \u2013 and the Napoleonic Maison d\u2019\u00e9ducation de la L\u00e9gion d\u2019honneur, Festival Saint-Denis demonstrates a nose for musical royalty. Stabat Mater settings by Rossini, Pergolesi and Poulenc are threaded through a programme during which Patricia Kopatchinskaja multitasks as violinist and vocalist in Schoenberg\u2019s Pierrot lunaire<\/i>; and, at the piano, Simon Rattle partners Magdalena Ko\u017een\u00e1 and friends in works by Chausson, Stravinsky and Jan\u00e1\u010dek.<\/span><\/p>\n Ravenna, Italy, 1 June \u2013 21 July<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Tel. <\/span>+39 (0)544 249211<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Web: <\/span>www.ravennafestival.org<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n \u2018Sacred and profane\u2019 is the Ravenna watchword as Azio Corghi\u2019s Between flesh and heaven<\/i> issues an opening night summons to a festival remembering the <\/span>centenary of Pier Paolo Pasolini. Mozart\u2019s <\/span>Don Giovanni <\/i>will have something to add in the autumn as part of a Da Ponte trilogy. But summer\u2019s harvest includes Brahms from Iv\u00e1n Fischer\u2019s Budapest Festival Orchestra, Ian Bostridge singing Britten and, planting themselves firmly on the side of the angels, Riccardo Muti and his Cherubini Youth Orchestra bowing their heads in prayer alongside Mozart, Vivaldi and Verdi.<\/span><\/p>\n Reykjavik, Iceland, 1-19 June<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Tel.<\/span> +354 561 2444<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Web:<\/span> www.listahatid.is<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n Having collaborated with Iceland Opera on February\u2019s sadly abandoned production of Wagner\u2019s Die Walk\u00fcre<\/i> (it would have been Iceland\u2019s first), Reykjav\u00edk\u2019s biennial festival steps up a gear with June\u2019s focus on the new. Mixing music with visuals, the Spektral Quartet gives the Iceland premiere of Anna Thorvaldsd\u00f3ttir\u2019s Enigma<\/i>, and soprano-conductor Barbara Hannigan joins the Iceland Symphony Orchestra for a collision of Ives, Schoenberg, Berg and Gershwin.<\/span><\/p>\n Amsterdam, The Netherlands, 3-26 June<\/i><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Tel. <\/span>+31 (0)20 523 7787<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\nEurope\u2019s best classical music festivals<\/h2>\n
Best classical music festivals in Germany<\/h3>\n
Dresden Festival<\/span><\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n
Handel Festival Halle<\/span><\/a><\/h4>\n
Bachfest Leipzig<\/span><\/a><\/h4>\n
Munich Opera Festival<\/span><\/a><\/h4>\n
Wagner 22<\/span><\/a><\/h4>\n
Best Czech festivals<\/h3>\n
Prague Spring Festival<\/span><\/a><\/h4>\n
Best classical music festivals in Norway<\/h3>\n
Bergen International Festival<\/span><\/a><\/h4>\n
Best classical music festivals in Ireland<\/h3>\n
Blackwater Opera Festival<\/span><\/a><\/h4>\n
Best classical music festivals in France<\/h3>\n
Festival de Saint-Denis<\/span><\/a><\/h4>\n
Best classical music festivals in Italy<\/h3>\n
Ravenna Festival<\/span><\/a><\/h4>\n
Best classical music festivals in Iceland<\/h3>\n
Reykjav\u00edk Arts Festival<\/span><\/a><\/h4>\n
Best classical music festivals in The Netherlands<\/h3>\n
Holland Festival<\/span><\/a><\/h4>\n