Name: St. Matthew Passion
Start: 2026-04-03T19:00:00
Location: Beethoven Hall

In 2026, the vibrant city of Bonn will be alive with the sounds of celebration as it marks 200 years of the iconic Bonn Carnival. A series of musical events organized by the Beethoven Orchester Bonn will honor this milestone. From a historical journey through the evolution of carnival music to the stirring orchestral performances that pay homage to legends like Beethoven and Haydn, these events promise to be a feast for the senses. Join us as we explore the rich tapestry of culture, music, and tradition in Bonn.

A Symphony of Traditions: Celebrating 200 Years of Bonn Carnival and Beyond

Bonn is set to host a mosaic of unforgettable musical events that promise to enchant and inspire. From orchestral wonders to family-friendly tales, and from soulful fado to prestigious competitions, this series of performances will showcase a stunning range of artistry and creativity. Taking place between March and May 2026, these events will feature renowned performers such as Ana Moura and showcase masterpieces from composers like Beethoven, Mozart, and Bach. Join the Beethoven Orchester Bonn as they celebrate the timeless power of music and its ability to connect, challenge, and transform.

Exploring the Rich Tapestry of Bonn's Upcoming Musical Events

Kangyoon Shine Lee

Giulia Montanari

Jeremy Ovenden

Attilio Cremonesi

Armin Kolarczyk

Michael Borth

Rafal Tomkiewicz

Philharmonic Choir of the City of Bonn

Beethoven Orchester Bonn

Have you ever heard a nightingale sing? The Emperor of China never has! When he hears the nightingale sing for the first time, he is amazed by its wonderful song, which had brought so many people from far and wide and which he had never even known about until then. "And the nightingale sang so beautifully that tears came to the emperor's eyes." So moved, he lets the nightingale sing day and night for him and his people. Until he is given an artfully crafted, artificial nightingale that can sing tirelessly, without a break. Replaced by a fake nightingale, the real nightingale flees, leaving the emperor and his people behind - for now. With enchanting and colorful music, this is a story about the things that make our lives rich, without any money or gold.

The Emperor's Nightingale

Beethoven Hall

One work, one story: that has been the recipe for most of the concerts in our successful Pur series over the past few seasons. Some of the most beautiful musical stories can be told around the symphonies of the unique Joseph Haydn. His Symphony No. 101 (Yes, "Papa Haydn" really did write over 100 symphonies – his student Ludwig could have taken a leaf out of his book!) is a musical marvel that still amazes and makes us smile today, a work with which the composer continues to touch us like few other composers of his time can! The nickname " The Clock" , like most of the titles of Haydn's  symphonies and string quartets, does not come from the master, but was added to the composition by an enterprising publisher.

Haydn: The Clock

Musical transgressions: What worlds have we not already brought together in our "Boundless" series ! And with fado icon Ana Moura, we are opening a new chapter in this series: The yearning, passionate, infinitely colorful music from the far southwest of Europe is on the program for our second "Boundless " concert.  Ana Moura doesn't dwell on the glorious past of her music, but rather takes it further, enriching it with modern, electronic elements.

Ana Moura

The German Music Competition will take place again in Bonn in March 2026. This prestigious competition for young, professional musicians in various disciplines serves as a launching pad for diverse careers in the music world every year. Its sponsor, the Bonn-based German Music Council, Germany's largest organization for music culture and the umbrella organization for the interests of 15 million musicians, has even more outstanding projects in store: In March 2025, Yura Yang, Principal Kapellmeister of the Leipzig Opera, sponsored by the Conducting Forum,
conducted with us.

German Music Competition 2026

University of Bonn

A great journey into the inner human being: This is Johann Sebastian Bach's St. Matthew Passion , perhaps the most significant religious musical work of the 18th century, which can still touch us today as it did 300 years ago: with its story of faith and doubt, of loyalty and betrayal, of hope and despair. In contrast to its dramatic sister, the St. John Passion , the focus of the St. Matthew Passion is on the inner journey that we all take when we relive and experience the suffering of Jesus Christ. And the St. Matthew Passion is not just a work for believers, for those connected to the Christian religion, but it also questions our values, our relationship to life and death, to this world and the next. The scope and instrumentation are larger, more powerful than in the St. John Passion : two choirs and two orchestras are contrasted, symbolizing the earthly and the divine spheres.

St. Matthew Passion

Great classical music in our chamber concert series: Every year we invite an international ensemble to the Old Federal Council and look forward to a world-class chamber music evening. This time, the French Quatuor Hanson is our guest, a young French ensemble that will present three pieces of chamber music from Austria: two important works by Mozart and Beethoven, as well as a youthful work by the far too long neglected Johanna Müller-Hermann. Listening to their poetically fragrant Quartet in E-flat major is a heartwarming experience!

Mind and Heart

You can hear them from far away: chattering wild geese flying overhead in a perfect "V," on their way to their breeding grounds in Lapland. If they fly low enough, we can hear their powerful wings. And maybe even Nils, the boy transformed into a gnome; this cheeky boy who couldn't stop teasing the animals on his parents' farm and was full of silly ideas, who one day met a gnome who enchanted him into his own kind, so that from then on he could be teased by the animals.

Nils Holgersson

Four notes: Ta ta ta taaa. Symphony of Destiny. The Fifth. It doesn't take much to immediately know that Beethoven's Symphony No. 5 is meant. The four notes immediately catch the ear and don't want to go away. Likewise, the symphony's relevance, the liberal ideas that Beethoven brought into the world with it, are reflected. School classes from the Beethoven-Gymnasium, which celebrates its 400th anniversary in 2026 and the school Beethoven himself once attended, will show us how relevant these are and what we can learn today from studying this symphony. 

Beethoven 5

Petrushka is the eternally unfortunate hero of all fairs: the story that underlies one of the greatest ballets of the 20th century is a tale of exclusion and belonging, of love and alienation, of rebellion and adaptation. As a listener, you are swept away by the colorful score, by wild rhythms and memorable themes that characterize the story's main characters and their fates. But you also suffer with Petrushka , the doll made of cloth and straw who wants to win the ballerina's heart. Moderator Bettina Böttinger and conductor Alondra de la Parra examine Petrushka and its relevance to our time. The Beethoven Orchestra will be on stage playing examples from the work, music and content flowing into one before Stravinsky's masterpiece is heard as a whole.

Petrushka

Glitter and glamour, scandals and minor scandals, the avant-garde and the traditions of different nations: all this awaited the audience that flocked to the Parisian performances of the legendary Ballets Russes, arguably the best ballet company in the world, shortly after the beginning of the 20th century. The important composers, the renowned set designers, the wonderful stories created productions that sometimes still have an impact today. One of the most famous Russian ballets was Stravinsky's Petrushka , and the most exciting evening with a Spanish background was Manuel de Falla's The Three-Cornered Hat - an entertaining story about a miller and his clever wife who have to fend off the inappropriate advances of a civil servant...

Aranjuez

How do you remember your last vacation: Do you write a diary? Do you take photos? Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy drew sketches: in Italy and Switzerland, across Germany and in France. He wrote countless letters to his loved ones. And in Scotland in particular, the memories of images of storm-tossed seas, bare plains and cloud-covered skies condensed into music in his head: He created the Hebrides Overture and the third, the so-called Scottish Symphony, in which you can hear the wind whistling and see the kilt-clad clans riding through the Highlands. For beginners and old hands: in our Pur series, in which we aim to (re)discover important works of classical literature, we turn for the first time to perhaps the brightest composer of the Romantic era, the author of A Midsummer Night's Dream and the Italian Symphony, and the oratorios Paulus and Elijah . Let's travel to Scotland with Portuguese conductor Nuno Coelho as musical director and presenter and let the fresh breeze blow around our noses!

Mendelssohn 3

The heart of classical music, Mozart and Beethoven: The most classical of all the chamber concert programs of the season presents weightless music from imperial Vienna during the gallant era. Night-time music par excellence, which gives us an idea of ​​how the aristocratic society indulged itself in the company of musicians who still seem the greatest to us today... But light music isn't just found in the 18th century: Even in the Romantic era and in the cauldron of the early 20th century, there are works that evoke southern evenings and gatherings among friends.

St. Matthew Passion

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