Schumannfest 2025 - Early summer will be romantic!

Under the motto "Romanticise yourself", the festival sets off on a journey from the Tonhalle and transforms the city into a resonating chamber of romantic and modern sounds.

More than 30 events can be experienced at 13 different venues in the city as part of this year's edition of the Schumann Festival. What's special: There will not only be music from the heart of Romanticism and by the Schumanns, as the festival programme includes symphony concerts, song recitals and chamber music, as well as jazz and club music.

The Schumannfest 2025 will open on 5 June in the Tonhalle with a special concert: Clarinettist Sharon Kam will perform together with the Jerusalem Quartet, including Brahms' wistful Clarinet Quintet.

A highlight of the festival are the popular Skyline Concerts, which take place from 24 to 28 June high above the rooftops of Düsseldorf in various high-rise buildings. Star cellist Alban Gerhardt takes centre stage and performs in various formations: as a duo and trio with pianist Markus Becker and violinist Veronika Eberle, with the Alliage Quintet and in a brilliant solo evening.

Palais Wittgenstein becomes the setting for intense chamber music evenings. On 7 June, the Signum Quartet will combine works by Schumann and Janáček with compositions by South African artists - a tribute to the end of apartheid 30 years ago. On 12 June, the Trio Boulanger will tell the musical story of Clara and Robert Schumann, Schubert and Wolfgang Rihm. On 17 June, tenor Julian Prégardien brings romantic longing to life with Schumann's "Dichterliebe" and also fulfils the audience's wishes by singing Schubert songs on demand. On 19 June, nine ensembles from the Düsseldorfer Symphoniker will present chamber music gems by Clara and Robert Schumann, Brahms and Bruch. The award-winning cellist Michiaki Ueno, known for his impressive Bach interpretations, will devote himself to Beethoven, Chopin and Schumann on 23 June.

New venues are part of the festival for the first time this year. In the Jazz-Schmiede on 14 June, The Erlkings will reinterpret the songs of Schumann and Schubert in a refreshing way - with vocals, guitar, cello, tuba, drums and vibraphone, in English, charming, humorous and profound at the same time. On 15 June, pianist Johanna Summer will perform together with Malakoff Kowalski, combining jazz and miniatures by classical composers with sung beat poems by Allen Ginsberg. The concert "Evergreen?" will also be performed at the Künstlerverein Malkasten on 15 June. Members of the Junge Deutsche Philharmonie will perform works by Japanese and American composers that deal with man's relationship to nature. Afterwards, all visitors are invited to enjoy a picnic in the idyllic Malkastenpark. If you don't bring your own picnic basket, you can buy snacks and drinks on site.

With a modern interpretation of Brahms' only song cycle "Die schöne Magelone", the Forum Freies Theater (FFT) invites you to a special evening on 20 and 21 June. The story will be staged as a contemporary love drama in which Marie Seidler, Äneas Humm and a pair of actors scrutinise classical ideals and modern relationship realities with radical honesty. An extraordinary concert experience awaits the audience at tanzhaus nrw on 22 June, when the orchestra transforms classical music into rousing beats with its "Disco" programme in the stairwell and turns the concert hall into a dance floor.

At the end of the festival, the Schumannfest returns to the Tonhalle. On 27, 29 and 30 June, the outstanding violinist Frank Peter Zimmermann will close this year's festival edition with his interpretation of Brahms' Violin Concerto, accompanied by the Düsseldorf Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Andris Poga. (Source: Tonhalle Düsseldorf / edited by Visit Düsseldorf)