The Swiss singer Hannah Weiss, who lives in Munich, won the "BMW Welt Young Artist Jazz Award" in 2019 with her band who all come from the creative Munich jazz scene. The jury of the BMW Award declared: "Hannah Weiss always shines with impeccable vocal technique, the feeling for the respective song and an impressive naturalness and charisma".

Bar icon and bitter sommelier Nils Boese is invited to Schloss Elmau for a special Bond-themed evening. Nils will read from Ian Fleming's James Bond books and explain the history of the drinks mentioned in the books. Keven McFarland and his bar team serve the classics and their own interpretation of the famous James Bond drinks. With the drinks, a bygone era becomes a multi-sensory experience, musically accompanied by Michael Gumpinger at the piano.

The internationally acclaimed multi-percussionist Martin Grubinger inspires worldwide with his boundless virtuosity and his breathtaking shows. The Austrian has rendered outstanding services to the establishment of percussion as a solo instrument in concert.

The members of this quintet feature prominently among the elite of the international wind scene, and are also united in the ensemble "Les Vents Français", with pianist Éric Le Sage, sought-after chamber musician and regular piano partner of Leleux and Meyer. The programme includes Mozart's piano quintet, about which the composer himself considered "the best thing I have written in my life".

What an adventure! Hannes from Aachen was the first to travel all around the world. 500 years ago he set off for the Spice Islands with Magellan's fleet. And thus into the completely unknown. Mutinies. Shipwrecks. Fights, cannibalism. In the end only one ship returned. Only 18 sailors survived, among them "Juan Aleman". That he set off for a second and even a third circumnavigation of the world is all we know of him. Raoul Schrott has travelled after this minor character of world history: He gives him a whole life full of voluptuous and almost tangible details.

Genuine art always transcends boundaries, as these native Bratislava artists prove. Three brothers Ondrej, František and Roman Janoska together with their Konstanz-born brother-in-law Julius Darvas: their musical creations combine their original classical subject in harmonic accord or colourful contrast with other genres - from jazz and Latin to pop music. But the result is not a mix of styles, but a creative synthesis: the "Janoska Style".

The Latvian accordionist Martynas Levickis captivates both listeners and critics with his musicality, charisma and dynamic performances. Founded in 2015, the Mikroorekéstra consists of promising Latvian musicians. Levickis directs it in various projects, either from the accordion or conducting, including his own lively arrangement of Vivaldi's "Four Seasons" - here for accordion and chamber orchestra.

Levickis' virtuosity and versatility in classical and contemporary repertoire changes the way we perceive the instrument. He was the first accordionist to be signed to Universal Music Decca Classic, and his debut album climbed straight to the top of the official classic album charts in the UK. Now it's well on the way to winning over audiences in Germany as well.

Can a children's book belong to the canon of world literature? Absolutely, says literary critic Denis Scheck. And can the class clown of contemporary literature, Michel Houllebecq, be ennobled with his inclusion in a canon? Yes, of course. With his selection of the 100 most important works, Denis Scheck presents a contemporary canon that hoots at genre or language boundaries. From Ovid to Tolkien, from Simone de Beauvoir to Shakespeare, from W. G. Sebald to J.K. Rowling: charming, eloquent and clever, he explains what you need to have read - and why.

Das Kneipenquiz mit Tom Zimmermann und Darren Grundorf ist ein Hit! Seit 2011 veranstalten und moderieren sie gemeinsam und mit riesigem Erfolg das internationale Aalhaus-Kneipenquiz in Hamburg. Sie haben das Live-Quiz auf eine neues Level gehoben und gehen nun damit auf Tour. Ein Quiz mit Sounds und Bilderrätseln aus Allgemein- und Nischenwissen und natürlich allem, was Sie immer schon über Schloss Elmau wissen sollten. Blamieren ausgeschlossen, denn gespielt wird im Team!

"If music has the potential to tell stories, saxophonist Oded Tzur proves himself one of the jazz world's premier storytellers" (Dan McClenaghan, All About Jazz). Tel Aviv saxophonist Oded Tzur has enchanted the jazz world since his first album release in 2015. His penetrating playing is praised by the specialist press just as much as he is counted among the "great musical thinkers of our time" (Jazzecho).

This biography, dedicated to Marie Darrieussecq Paula Modersohn-Becker, takes up all the elements that mark the artist's short life. She draws them in a light that is both feminine and literary. Full of liveliness and empathy, she shows this woman's struggle among the men and artists of her time, her friendships, especially those with Rainer Maria Rilke, and last but not least her unconditional desire for expressiveness and independence, which she insisted on.

One of the great pianists of our time takes his seat at the Elmau Steinway: the pianist Bronfman, born in Tashkent and living in the USA, is one of the most sought-after pianists of our time and is a guest with all top orchestras and in the most important concert halls. At Schloss Elmau he will present Brahms' monumental piano sonata in F minor.

Important moments for music in people's lives are births and weddings and triumphs, but above all death. Mourning needs music. The lament, a form of music founded by Claudio Monteverdi, belongs to the oldest genres of music. Following on from the literary-musical evening with Hans Magnus Enzensberger at Schloss Elmau a year ago, Alexander Kluge and his film team with the Musicbanda have decided to open a workshop at this creative location and to try out and create something new with the means of film and music on the themes of lamento, band music and minute operas. On the last evening, the artists will present the best of their work in the concert hall at Schloss Elmau.

Gustav Peter Wöhler has been one of the well-known faces on the German theatre, cinema and television scene for years. For more than 20 years, he has also been touring with his band, often building bridges between stars and one-hit wonders, classics and personal discoveries with his stirring, unconventional arrangements.

Schubert's C Minor Sonata is the first of the three last great piano sonatas from the year of Schumann's death in 1828. For Schumann they were located "where the imagination is filled by the sad 'very last' of the idea of near divorce". The speciality of William Youn from Munich - who is gradually recording all of Schubert's piano sonatas for SONY at Schloss Elmau - is to bring such a programme full of deep emotion to the audience.

Praised as "the soul of the Spanish guitar", he has become a worldwide sensation and known as the great guitarist of his generation. Consequently, he presents a programme of the most famous Spanish guitar works in Schloss Elmau.

Audiences and critics around the globe are enthusiastic about the quartet, founded in 1998 and based in London. They have joined forces with the outstanding violinist Alina Ibragimova and the ideally-matched pianist Cédric Tiberghien for the original formation of Chausson's concerto.

Mozart's Divertimento KV 563 is one of the most famous pieces for string trio and Trio Zimmermann is one of the world's best ensembles in this trio formation – and so we can be sure: another unforgettable evening with the Trio Zimmermann at Schloss Elmau.

Finally! Grammy-winner, pianist, composer and entertainer Chilly Gonzales returns to the concert hall in Elmau, where he takes a seat at the grand piano for one of his legendary evenings.

Concert tickets only available in conjunction with a room booking. Reservations: +49 (0) 8823 18 170 or reservations@schloss-elmau.de

The Canadian bass baritone and the British pianist Julius Drake are among the best that can currently be heard in lieder singing. On all international stages at home, in opera as well as in Lied, the two can now be heard with French and American songs.

The Polish author Olga Tokarczuk was honoured "for a narrative imagination that with encyclopedic passion represents the crossing of boundaries as a form of life."

Frank Woeste, living in Paris and firmly rooted in the French jazz world, likes to improvise on his compositions with pianist colleagues. Woeste comes to Schloss Elmau together with the award-winning Baptiste Trotignon, who has already taken a seat at our Steinway with jazz and as a Lied accompanist.

The best of classical and folk music, country dance and polka, yodel and waltz.

Who could interpret Beethoven's String Trios, the composer's most demanding early works, more successfully than these three soloists with a heart beating violently for chamber music: the Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang, the British violist Lawrence Power and the Franco-German cellist Nicolas Altstaedt!

Who could interpret Beethoven's String Trios, the composer's most demanding early works, more successfully than these three soloists with a heart beating violently for chamber music: the Norwegian violinist Vilde Frang, the British violist Lawrence Power and the Franco-German cellist Nicolas Altstaedt!

There is something magical in the history of the Israeli pianist Yaron Herman. After an aspired career as a basketball player, which was ended by an injury, he started playing the piano at the age of 16. A meteoric rise to become one of the most respected pianists of his generation follows, leading his listeners into a realm of innovation and joy.

Avi Avital is a successful soloist in the classical world, Omer Klein is a jazz player and bandleader. They share their homeland Israel, they are musicians of the same generation and both are at home in the world with their music. Far away from any genre limitations, they are always exploring the possibilities of their instruments, radiating creativity and joy of playing between Bach and Jazz.

The duo is the smallest genre of string chamber music. Mozart's works were often written not for the concert hall, but for the living room or the salon. Artistically and technically, however, they are highly demanding and require experienced musicians - and are therefore in the best of hands with the successful soloists Veronika Eberle and Nils Mönkemeyer.

The energetic concerts of Khatia Buniatishvili are legendary – now she lets her virtuoso fingers fly over the keys in Schloss Elmau again.

The King's Singers are the kings of a cappella and world-famous British export stars in terms of highest musical quality and best English charm, taking the audience by storm.

From the 1st volume “Bretonische Verhältnisse”
to his 8th volume “Bretonisches Vermächtnis – Kommissar Dupin ermittelt”

Long since a classic and millions can quote from it: The Little Prince lives together with his rose on the planet Asteroid B 612 and visits Earth. Here, in addition to the narrator who made an emergency landing in the desert with his plane, he gets to know the fox who explains the process of taming: "You become eternally responsible for what you've tamed." A world-famous book full of wisdom and with many common quotes, like "“The most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen or touched, they are felt with the heart.” Re-interpreted with specially composed music by August Zirner and Kai Struwe.

Passion and temperament, creativity and poetry, humour and irony: these are the characteristics that characterise Anna Depenbusch - not only on stage but also backstage. With her last studio album “Das Alphabet der ANNA DEPENBUSCH in schwarz-weiß” (The alphabet of ANNA DEPENBUSCH in black and white), the singer-songwriter from Hamburg showed that it takes no more than a piano and her voice to immerse oneself in a world full of fantasy for a few hours. In this world, stories written about life, anecdotes, truths, dreams, desires and longings merge in a symbiosis. Whether she whispers or whistles, caresses or trembles, jokes playfully or simply touches you deeply: “Anna Depenbusch is the measure of all things in her field, modern chanson” (Hannoversche Allgemeine Zeitung).

David Rothenberg has made music with whales, insects, water and wind: But the perfect sound was provided by the Berlin nightingales, who live there in Competition with the city noise to outgrow itself. The American musicologist and musician Rothenberg, an icon of the experimental music scene worldwide, has written a symphony of the big city that sets a musical monument to the nightingale.

Master cellist Gautier Capucon travels to Schloss Elmau together with his ideally-matched piano partner Gülru Ensari. On the programme the musicians have some of the great works for cello and piano.

„One of the biggest new music talents in Britain“ (Vogue)

"Selten habe ich eine so kluge, treffende und unaufgeregte Auseinandersetzung darüber gelesen, warum Menschen sich von Parteien und Institutionen abwenden und plötzlich nach rechts abdriften", sagt Giovanni di Lorenzo über Joachim Gaucks "Toleranz". Im Gespräch mit Staatsministerin Monika Grütters ergründet Gauck die drängenden gesellschaftlichen Fragen zur Toleranz und ihren Grenzen.

In a public workshop, master pianist Alfred Brendel works with musicians of the Krzyzowa Music Festival on Schubert's String Quartet in G major.

Alfred Brendel is a living legend among pianists. Since he gave his last concert in 2008, he has devoted himself to teaching, writing and lecturing. After his workshop with musicians of the Krzyzowa Music Festival the day before, he will give exciting insights into his musical life on this evening.

“No one else plays the guitar like him,” the FAZ was already astonished when Nguyên Lês made his German debut in 1993. In his new project, the musicians' origins – Vietnam, India and Japan – form a magical triangle in which fascinating soundscapes are created. A sparkling encounter of identities.

„Wir erleben hier etwas ganz Besonderes. Es wäre nicht richtig, die 12-jährige Alexandra Dovgan als ,Wunderkind' zu bezeichnen, denn ihr Klavierspiel ist zwar ein Wunder, hat aber nichts Kindliches an sich. Ihre Interpretationen sind die einer Erwachsenen, einer voll ausgeformten Persönlichkeit. Es ist mir eine besondere Freude, in diesem Zusammenhang auf ihre bemerkenswerte Lehrerin Mira Marchenko zu verweisen. Doch gibt es Dinge, die man weder lernen noch lehren kann. Alexandra Dovgan verfügt über eine ungewöhnlich vielseitige und ausgewogene Begabung. Ihr Spiel ist wahrhaftig und konzentriert. Ich sage ihr eine große Zukunft voraus …“
Grigory Sokolov

Grigory Sokolov kehrt zurück nach Schloss Elmau. Für sein diesjähriges Rezital hat der zurückhaltende Meisterpianist Werke von Mozart vorbereitet, darunter die Sonate A-Dur KV 331 und das Rondo a-Moll KV 511 – ein sicher bezwingender und eindrücklicher Konzertabend mit zahlreichen Zugaben.