Here is our pick of the best classical music festivals taking place across Europe during 2025. And don't forget to also check out our useful guide to the UK's best classical music festivals in 2026.
Best classical music festivals: Germany 2026
Bachfest Leipzig
Leipzig, Germany, 11-21 June
bachfestleipzig.de
Bachfest is undeniably enterprising in offering a Climate Pass to fund the creation of a CO2-offsetting ‘Bach Forest’. But it remains a festival whose programme assuredly sees the wood for the trees! Between an opening Marian Vespers dispensing Monteverdi aplenty, and the closing B minor Mass featuring Bach’s own Thomanerchor, András Schiff and Mahan Esfahani traverse the ‘48’ on piano and harpsichord respectively; Isabelle Faust and Kristian Bezuidenhout tackle the accompanied violin sonatas; and Il Pomo d’Oro imagine a ‘Summit Meeting’ between Bach and Handel. Branching out, meanwhile, in the Krystallpalast Varieté ‘Bach meets Breakdance’!
Munich Opera Festival
Munich, Germany, 18 June – 31 July
staatsoper.de
Last summer, Munich notched up its 150th edition but it’s not resting on its laurels. Conducted by Vladimir Jurowski, Wagner’s Die Walküre resumes the forging of a new Ring cycle, Handel’s Alcina casts her spells in a new production by Johanna Wehner and, following its world premiere the previous month, there are two further performances of Brett Dean’s operatic take on the rivalry between Queen Elizabeth I and her sister Mary. Puccini (Turandot), and Weber (Der Freischütz), are both acknowledged in their anniversary year. And as well as chamber and Baroque recitals, a song strand features bass-baritone Christian Gerhaher twice over.
The best Europe classical music festivals in 2026...
Musikfest Berlin
Berlin, Germany, 28 August – 23 September
berlinerfestspiele.de
Just as daffodils or the ‘first cuckoo’ announce the arrival of spring, so Berlin’s Musikfest serves notice that a new Berlin Philharmonic season is just around the corner! And celebrating 75 years of the umbrella Berlin Festspiele, autumn is awash with tantalising prospects – from the opening performance of Ligeti’s Le Grand Macabre to the period forces of Jordi Savall’s Le Concert des Nations. Gubaidulina and Bruckner monopolise the LSO under Antonio Pappano, and an all-Schumann programme brings together Simon Rattle, Freiburg Baroque and violinist Isabelle Faust.
Best classical music festivals: Austria 2026
Salzburg Festival
Salzburg, Austria, 17 July – 30 August
salzburgfestival.at
Birthplace of Mozart, workplace of Biber, regular haunt of Richard Strauss (one of the Festival founders), Salzburg has plenty of homegrown talent on which to draw – not to mention magnificent mountains to elevate the spirits ever further. Strauss’s Ariadne auf Naxos sits alongside Henze’s Der Prinz von Homburg in an operatic landscape that includes Messiaen’s Saint-François d’Assise, newly staged by Romeo Castellucci and conducted by Maxime Pascal. Nine concerts homage György Kurtág; a late-night series has the measure of Messiaen; and joining the Philharmonics of Vienna and Berlin is the Pittsburgh Symphony under Manfred Honeck.
Best classical music festivals: Italy 2026
Ravenna Festival
Ravenna, Italy, 21 May – 11 July
ravennafestival.org
With over 100 events in prospect (not to mention November’s operatic postscript), Roman Ravenna likes to cast its net capaciously – this summer ensnaring Sophocles as well as contemporary dance inspired by murmuration. Sacred music is resolutely ‘at home’ in the city’s Byzantine-bejewelled basilicas, and in addition to concerts with the Cherubini Orchestra, Riccardo Muti leads a ‘Journey through Choral Music’. Pianist Filippo Gorini is in residence; Le Poème Harmonique contextualises the first performance of Bach’s ‘Christmas’ Magnificat; and, 40 years on, Piazzolla’s festival debut is remembered.
The best Europe classical music festivals in 2026...
Best classical music festivals: Czech Republic 2026
Prague Spring Festival
Prague, Czech Republic, 12 May – 4 June
festival.cz/en
Prague is a festival with an in-built spring in its step and, for 2026, a song in its heart, what with soprano-conductor Barbara Hannigan as artist-in-residence, plus the choral firepower of Berlioz’s La damnation de Faust, Verdi’s Requiem and a rarity: Massenet’s oratorio Marie-Madeleine. Resident, too, is composer Unsuk Chin, three of whose works are championed by Ensemble Modern alongside a clutch of festival commissions. Lutenist Thomas Dunford remembers Dowland; Helsinki Baroque makes its festival debut with an all-Czech programme; and at the National Technical Museum, violinist Hana Kotková pairs Nono
and Sciarrino.
Best classical music festivals: Turkey 2026
Istanbul Music Festival
Istanbul, Turkey, 11-25 June
muzik.iksv.org
Situated where Europe and Asia meet, Istanbul is used to facing in two directions. And for over half a century its music festival has drawn on a rich and exotic heritage reflected equally in the ensemble Constantinople’s fusion of Italian, Ottoman and Persian traditions in the Grand Bazaar, and Improclassica’s eclectic classical and jazz mash-up. The Vienna Symphony Orchestra celebrates its 125th birthday; tenor Ian Bostridge and countertenor Iestyn Davies share vocal honours; and lute plus electronics contrive a classical club night.
Best classical music festivals: Scandinavia and Finland 2026
Bergen International Festival
Bergen, Norway, 27 May – 10 June
fib.no
Norway’s vibrant multi-arts festival might be nearing its 75th birthday but that’s a mere blink of an eye alongside the 750 years’ existence of one of its favourite venues: the Håkonshallen. Another is the home of local hero Edvard Grieg, who lends his name to the concert hall where artist-in-residence Esa-Pekka Salonen masterminds two epic symphonies: Messiaen’s Turangalîla and Mahler’s ‘Resurrection’. (Elsewhere, decidedly off-piste, ‘Mahler goes Circus’ undertakes an acrobatic journey through the songs.) Vivaldi is danced; the Monteverdi Choir dallies with Purcell’s Dido; Monteverdi himself absorbs Concerto Italiano; and the Miles Davis centenary isn’t forgotten.
The best Europe classical music festivals in 2026...
Festival O/Modernt
Stockholm, Sweden, 12-14 June
omodernt.com
No one could level charges of complacency against O/Modernt. Its recent Winter Festival showcased the Swedish premiere of pieces by Nico Muhly plus Handel’s Messiah with beat poet commentary. Nor is there anything ageist about a summer festival that acknowledges György Kurtág’s 100th birthday and veteran American composer Elliott Carter, who was 103 at the time of his death. June’s rallying-cry is ‘Three’s a Party: Bach, Britten and Strauss’; among the guests are pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard and tenor Cyrille Dubois, who marks the Britten death half-century with Les Illuminations and the Serenade for tenor, horn, and strings.
Copenhagen Summer Festival
Copenhagen, Denmark, 19 July – 2 August
copenhagensummerfestival.dk
For almost three decades, chamber music and young talent have together supplied the twin pillars sustaining the Danish capital’s Charlottenburg chamber get-together. This summer, violinist Maxim Vengerov teams up with his daughters Elizabeth (piano) and Pauline (cello) for a finale that unites Haydn and Beethoven, plus Ravel’s Tzigane arranged for piano trio. Along the way, the Absalon String Quartet performs Szymanowski; pianist Ryan Bradshaw prefaces Liszt and Scriabin with Rameau; and Bach’s Goldberg Variations are repurposed for string trio.
Turku Music Festival
Turku, Finland, 1-21 August
turunmusiikkijuhlat.fi/en
Finland’s oldest music festival doesn’t like to be constrained. Several prequel concerts pave the way to summer’s bounty; and Vivaldi’s Juditha triumphans is unwrapped by way of a Christmas treat. This year’s festival ‘proper’ opens with the European premiere of Terry Riley’s The Holy Liftoff; mezzo Karen Cargill joins conductor Jukka-Pekka Saraste for Wagner’s sultry Wesendonck Lieder; and Sibelius and Rautavaara are entwined in Hannu Lintu’s all-Finnish programme with the Lahti Symphony Orchestra.
The best Europe classical music festivals in 2026...
Best classical music festivals: Estonia 2026
Pärnu Music Festival
Pärnu, Estonia, 8-18 July
parnumusicfestival.ee
Describing itself as a ‘summer camp for the musical architects of tomorrow’, seaside Pärnu is indelibly associated with the Järvis: conductors Paavo, Neeme and Kristjan. Complementing the concerts and Academy, this year a new programme promoting young talent is added. Kristjan Järvi spearheads his barrier-busting Nordic Pulse Orchestra; brother Paavo is joined by the Balanas sisters Kristine and Margarita in Philip Glass’s Double Concerto for violin and cello; and on opening night ‘papa’ Neeme pairs Smetana and Dvořák with works by fellow-Estonian Heino Eller.
Best classical music festivals: Portugal 2026
Marvão International Music Festival
Marvão, Portugal, 24 July – 2 August
marvaomusic.com
Some years ago, conductor-violinist Christoph Poppen fell in love with fortified, hilltop Marvão, but one thing was missing: music. What to do? He founded a festival; and a dozen years on, this year’s edition opens with the Cologne Chamber Orchestra, plus late-night mandolin in the castle’s atmospheric cistern. The Goldmund Quartet performs Weinberg, while pianist Joseph Moog leaves through Britten’s Holiday Diary. And in his anniversary year Britten is also the subject of a ‘Composer Portrait’ – along with Korean-born, Germany-based Isang Yun.
Best classical music festivals: Ireland 2026
Blackwater Valley Opera Festival
Lismore, Eire, 26 May – 1 June
blackwatervalleyopera.ie
In the stable yards of Lismore Castle an unrepentant seducer, a stonily gruff dinner guest and a thirst for vengeance play out across four performances as Peter Whelan conducts Mozart’s Don Giovanni, the centrepiece of an opera festival that goes the extra mile. St Carthage’s Cathedral plays host to the amorous Arcadia of Handel’s Acis and Galatea, but national pride isn’t overlooked: Stanford’s Irish song cycle Cushendall takes pride of place in Villierstown Church, and Samuel Beckett is fêted in words and music.
The best Europe classical music festivals in 2026...
West Cork Chamber Music Festival
Bantry, Eire, 26 June – 5 July
westcorkmusic.ie
As if the scenic splendours of Bantry Bay weren’t enough, from morning coffee concerts to candlelit late-nighters, West Cork’s action-packed chamberfest cultivates breadth as well as depth. The 31st edition opens with a ‘Homage to Ukraine’, and the spectre of war haunts concerts by the Calidore Quartet and cellist Andreas Brantelid among others. Pēteris Vasks is cherished at 80; the Calidores share quartet honours with the Novo and Attacca string quartets; and in St Brendan’s Church, New Dublin Voices say ‘yes’ to Nono.
Best classical music festivals: Netherlands 2026
Holland Festival
Amsterdam, Netherlands, 3-28 June
hollandfestival.nl
Like Edinburgh and Avignon, Holland Festival was founded in an outpouring of hope following the end of the Second World War; and as the three ponder 80th-anniversary editions, they’re coming together for a multi-media Ibsen project to launch future collaborations. Holland is proudly artist-driven and a fearless champion of the new. Associate artist this year is Hildur Guðnadóttir, who features both as composer and cellist with the Iceland Symphony Orchestra. Some of her film scores are wrapped around a specially commissioned new work, as well as music by composers who have inspired her, Arvo Pärt and Saariaho among them.
Utrecht Early Music Festival
Utrecht, Holland, 28 August – 6 September
oudemuziek.nl/en/festival
It might be all about the past, but Utrecht Early Music Festival likes to look to the future! Next year’s festival will be themed around humanism, while 2028 examines citizenship. ‘Giving Voice’ is 2026’s watchword, and giving voice to as many as possible, a non-professional choir is being formed to be woven into a programme taking a special interest in the masques of the Burgundian and Tudor courts as well as the semi-operas of Blow and Purcell.
The best Europe classical music festivals in 2026...
Best classical music festivals: Spain 2026
Granada Festival
Granada, Spain, 11 June – 12 July
granadafestival.org
Blowing out 75th birthday candles, Granada ’26 isn’t keeping anniversary celebrations to itself. There’s a shout-out to sometime-resident Manuel de Falla at 150 as well as to György Kurtág and Feldman, centenarians both. Verdi’s Aida is given in concert, and Iván Fischer together with his Budapest Festival Orchestra perform the final scene of Wagner’s Die Walküre. Zubin Mehta and the orchestra of Florence’s Maggio Musicale are motivated by Mozart; Riccardo Muti revels in Ravel, while terpsichorean treats namecheck companies from Lausanne, Latvia and Biarritz.
Best classical music festivals: France 2026
Aix-en-Provence Festival
Aix-en-Provence, France, 2-21 July
festival-aix.com
Aix ’26 will be tinged with sadness. The programme is the last devised by its previous director Pierre Audi, who died last May. With typical Audi acuity, operatically it ranges adventurously from concert performances of Verdi’s Sicilian Vespers and Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle, through Mozart, Strauss and Henze, to a world premiere: Francesco Filidei’s Accabadora, a Sardinian tale of ritual and release. Klangforum Wien, Raphaël Pichon’s Pygmalion and pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard afford instrumental diversion – the latter mindful of Kurtág’s 100th birthday.
Best classical music festivals: Croatia 2026
Dubrovnik Summer Festival
Dubrovnik, Croatia, 10 July – 25 August
dubrovnik-festival.hr
With its blue skies, sparkling sea and seductive architecture, Dubrovnik provides the perfect panorama for a festival that holds drama, music, folklore and dance in perfect equilibrium. (For Shakespeare’s Richard III – a sequel to last year’s The Tempest – what more fitting location than the Lovrijenac Fort?) And the city takes its music seriously. Violinists Joshua Bell and Renaud Capuçon, cellist Steven Isserlis and soprano Pretty Yende are among the visiting artists. Philharmonix returns, likewise the Zagreb Soloists, and the Dubrovnik Symphony Orchestra premieres a new work by Fran Durović.
The best Europe classical music festivals in 2026...
Best classical music festivals: Switzerland 2026
Verbier Festival
Verbier, Switzerland, 16 July – 2 August
verbierfestival.com
Never mind its stunnning Alpine home: Verbier has itchy feet. In January, a 31-concert inaugural edition in Shenzhen was launched, bringing the taste of a Swiss summer to the Chinese city’s new arts complex. Back home, the stars are shining as brightly as ever. The galaxy of musical A-listers includes pianists Martha Argerich, András Schiff and Nikolai Lugansky. In its 20th anniversary year, the Festival Chamber Orchestra under Gábor Takács-Nagy accompanies Mozart’s Così fan tutte; Simon Rattle conducts Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle; and Verdi’s La Traviata is headed by James Gaffigan.
Gstaad Menuhin Festival
Gstaad, Switzerland, 16 July – 5 September
gstaadmenuhinfestival.ch
Daniel Hope took over the helm as artistic director last year and, under the banner of ‘Family Matters’, his first programme enshrines the spirit of togetherness that fellow violinist Yehudi Menuhin brought to the festival’s incarnation 70 years ago. Zubin Mehta and Pinchas Zukerman are reunited for Mozart; a six-violinist fiddlefest lassoes Irish, Celtic and Balkan folk, as well as swing and jazz in one concert; and a ‘Menuhin Legacy’ strand includes a performance of the Elgar Violin Concerto by Hope himself.
Klosters Music
Klosters, Switzerland, 31 July – 9 August
www.klosters-music.ch
Last year Klosters branched out into a year-round concert series in the intimate surroundings of St Jacob’s Church. But the summer festival remains at its heart, and the 8th edition focuses on ‘icons’ – both iconic works and performers, (united in András Schiff’s performance of Bach’s Goldberg Variations). Camerata Salzburg signs off with Beethoven’s ‘fate-full’ Symphony No. 5; Handel’s heroines absorb La Cetra Baroque and soprano Chelsea Zurflüh; while Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen under Edward Gardner, bids farewell to departing festival director David Whelton with Elgar’s Enigma Variations.
Lucerne Summer Festival
Lucerne, Switzerland, 13 August – 13 September
lucernefestival.ch
Lucerne is really four festivals in one, what with a Spring edition, May’s piano ‘Pulse’, and the contemporary music rendezvous in November. But August’s extravaganza remains an exuberant roller-coaster of visiting orchestras, recitals and the fruits of an eclectic, hands-on Academy (newly headed by composer-clarinettist Jörg Widmann). With the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in mind, ‘American Dreams’ proliferate – inspiring an A-Z spanning Adams to Zappa, plus exiles such as Rachmaninov, Stravinsky and Schoenberg. Cape Town Opera and Chineke! bring down the closing curtain with Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess.
Best classical music festivals: Poland 2026
Wratislavia Cantans
Wrocław, Poland, 3-13 September
nfm.wroclaw.pl
With the power of the human voice at its heart for over six decades, Wrocław’s ‘Cantans’ has adopted Joseph Conrad’s The Shadow-Line as its 2026 motto – a theme addressing twilight states and the consequences of human choices. Among those accepting the challenge are Il Giardino Armonico, Paul McCreesh’s Gabrieli Consort and Players, and Staatskapelle Dresden – who shoulder Mahler’s mighty Symphony No. 6 in an edition which opens with Saint-Saëns’s Samson et Dalila.
