Easter Festival 2023: Tickets for all Performances available

Experience »our«Easter Festival in all its facets with this new, special cycle at a special price: The »Subscription to go« with 30% reduced prices includes: Orchestra Concert II (4 April) / »Tannhäuser« (5 April) / »Träume« (6 April). Available from 3 October 2022 in two categories exclusively at the ticket office counter at Herbert-von-Karajan-Platz 11. Maximum of two subscriptions per person while stocks last.

Andris Nelsons conducts a new production of Richard Wagner's masterpiece, staged by theatre visionary Romeo Castellucci. Jonas Kaufmann, who last appeared at the Easter Festival in 2015 in "Cavalleria rusticana" / "Pagliacci", will make his role debut in the title role. Marlis Petersen will sing her first Wagner role ever in the role of Elisabeth. Elīna Garança as Venus, Georg Zeppenfeld as the Landgrave and Christian Gerhaher as Wolfram von Eschenbach complete the quintet of soloists.

The Easter Festival concert programme presents pieces that are closely associated with the Gewandhaus Orchestra or were even premiered in Leipzig and spans the spectrum from Johann Sebastian Bach and Johannes Brahms to Anton Bruckner and Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy to Sofia Gubaidulina and Thierry Escaich. Discover the programmes of the concerts here.

Orchestral concert I: Gubaidulina / Bruckner

Sofia Gubaidulina’s »Der Zorn Gottes« [»Wrath of God«] was composed for the Salzburg Easter Festival, though the pandemic meant it could not be given its world premiere here. It has meanwhile been acclaimed by critics and audiences alike, and now this mighty orchestral work is finally coming to Salzburg. The Russian composer Gubaidulina has enjoyed a long-standing collaborative relationship with the Gewandhaus Orchestra, and in this season she is the official »Gewandhaus Composer«. The second half of this concert will feature Anton Bruckner’s 7th Symphony, which was given its world premiere by the Gewandhaus Orchestra under Arthur Nikisch on 30 December 1884. This performance finally brought the composer his first-ever resounding success and national recognition.

Orchestral Concert II: Bach / Escaich / Schumann

Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy, a former chief conductor of the Gewandhaus Orchestra, is regarded as the man who ushered in a lasting renaissance of the music of Johann Sebastian Bach. This second symphonic programme of the 2023 Easter Festival will therefore revolve around these two men who have long been focal points in Leip- zig’s musical life. Mendelssohn Bartholdy arranged Bach’s Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D major for orchestra and gave its first performance in Leipzig. Robert Schumann’s 2nd Symphony in C major was premiered by Mendelssohn Bartholdy at the Gewandhaus in 1846, and is notable for its numerous references to Bach’s music. These two works will be placed alongside music of the 21st century: a work for cello and orchestra by the French composer Thierry Escaich, which will here be given its Austrian premiere, with Gautier Capuçon as soloist.

Choral Concert

In 1869, Johannes Brahms’s »German Requiem« was given its first complete performance in the Leipzig Gewandhaus, when the Gewandhaus Orchestra and Chorus gave the world premiere of the final, seven-movement version of this work under the direction of their chief conductor Carl Reinecke. The Bavarian Radio Chorus will sing the work at the 2023 Easter Festival, and will be joined by Julia Kleiter and Christian Gerhaher as soloists.

Dance will be performed for the first time at the Easter Festival with the creation »Träume« by Emanuel Gat. You can experience electronic beats in combination with Richard Wagner's masterpieces in »Westbam meets Wagner« - an experiment to mark the beginning of a dialogue with electronic music at the Salzburg Easter Festival.

Two chamber concerts and one Late Night Concert feature ensembles that have been formed from the ranks of the Gewandhaus Orchestra and that bear the name of Leipzig's concert hall "Gewandhaus" as part of their name. You can find the chamber concert programmes here.