[AD] With Cimarosa to the Musikfest Berlin 2026

Three years after the successful previous edition, Cimarosa is offering another music tour to Berlin. Three evening concerts at the prestigious Musikfest Berlin, which celebrates its 75th anniversary in 2026 and opens the Berlin concert season annually in spectacular fashion, are at the center of the program.

Three evenings in a row we travel to the legendary Philharmonie Berlin, the beating heart of the Berlin music scene. The hall designed by Hans Scharoun, with its revolutionary vineyard model and world-renowned acoustics, provides the ideal setting for this rich program.

The concerts

The opening evening features one of the key works in twentieth-century opera history: Le Grand Macabre by György Ligeti, based on the surrealist drama by Brussels author Michel de Ghelderode. In the fictional Breughelland, inspired by Bruegel and Bosch, a grotesque mixture of medieval mystery play, absurd slapstick and black humor unfolds. Coloratura arias, rhythmically complex ensembles and cabaret-style scenes alternate with each other. The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Helsinki Chamber Choir and an international ensemble of soloists conducted by Nicholas Collon present Ligeti's "anti-anti-opera" in a semi-staged performance.

The second concert is entirely devoted to Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. Jordi Savall leads his ensemble Le Concert des Nations through three compelling musical travel sketches: the Scottish Symphony, the Italian Symphony and the overture Die Hebriden. A rediscovery on historical instruments, in a fresh and sparkling interpretation.

The closing concert combines romanticism and modernity. Two impressive works by Austrian composer Olga Neuwirth — Tombeau I and Dreydl — in which memory and transience are central, are alternated with late romantic masterpieces: Tchaikovsky's Violin Concerto with star violinist Blake Pouliot, and Rachmaninov's moving Symphony No. 3. The excellent Kansas City Symphony is conducted by Matthias Pintscher.

The daily program

During the day, the tour has much to offer as well. We stay at the four-star hotel NH Collection Berlin Mitte am Checkpoint Charlie, in the heart of the city. Highlights include visits to the majestic Schloss Charlottenburg, the Neues Museum on the Museumsinsel, the iconic Neue Nationalgalerie by Mies van der Rohe, the Jewish Museum by Daniel Libeskind and Schloss Sanssouci in Potsdam. We walk along Unter den Linden to the Brandenburg Gate, and end at the Gedenkstätte Berliner Mauer and Checkpoint Charlie. A gastronomic lunch in Sir Norman Foster's transparent Reichstag dome, with breathtaking views over Berlin, is an unforgettable highlight.

Tour guidance is in the hands of Stephan Weytjens and Myriam Libert.

The option on the concert tickets expires mid-June — so don't delay registering!