Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival opens 2026 season with Brahms and the Armida Quartet

Programme and Performers

Following the opening concert, the Armida Quartet – two women and two men – can be experienced 18 more times in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Violist Teresa Schwamm has known the festival by her own account for 13 years, since the ensemble's first appearance in 2013. The Festspiele MV, she said, have long become a musical home for her.

The programme features numerous other high-calibre names. Tenor Rolando Villazón is a guest at the festival for the first time in 2026 and will present a Monteverdi evening with the Lautten Compagney Berlin in Stolpe an der Peene. Violinist Hilary Hahn performs in Redefin, singer Annett Louisan in the Schlosspark Ludwigslust, and jazz pianist Michael Wollny in Parchim, Wismar, and Schwerin.

Götz Alsmann and his band can be experienced twice – in Wismar and Torgelow. On 4 July, two events featuring pianist Gottlieb Wallisch and Mechthild Großmann under the title '20th Century Foxtrots' will take place at the Kulturhaus Mestlin. Wallisch spoke about a project involving numerous world premieres: 'Foxtrotts, Charlestons oder Bostons oder Tangos von klassischen Komponisten aus den 1920er- und 1930er-Jahren, die alle von der Jazzwelle beeinflusst wurden, die nach dem Ersten Weltkrieg nach Europa herübergeschwappt ist'.

Violinist Johanna Staemmler is particularly looking forward to the three concerts in July in Ueckermünde, Koserow, and Anklam under the motto 'Brahms am Haff'. She announced a programme of works by Johannes Brahms: 'Brahms-Quintett in G-Dur, beide Brahms-Sextette, alle drei Streichquartette von Brahms und das Klarinetten-Quintett - also darauf freue ich mich wie eine Ausgehungerte'.

Tickets and Demand

High demand is being recorded by the festival for, among others, the Thomaner Choir and the concert at Schloss Bothmer with Kent Nagano and the Deutsches Symphonieorchester. Both series are 'wunderbar verkauft', as Haselböck explained. She nevertheless recommended interested parties check online for returned tickets: 'Aber es zahlt sich immer aus, noch einmal online zu schauen, ob es vielleicht Karten gibt'.

Anna Janßen from the organising team of the Pangea Festival, which is featured within the same event network, expressed confidence that more than 15,000 attendees could be welcomed at the festival this year. The Festspiele MV handles price increases moderately, according to press spokesperson Ute Fischer-Graf: 'Die Festspiele MV gehen sehr moderat mit Preisanhebungen um, da wir allen Menschen den Zugang zu unseren Konzerten ermöglichen wollen'.

Compared to the 2025 season, prices were raised by five euros for roughly one third of the concerts, while the others remained constant. Regular ticket prices range from six to 95 euros, with the average at around 40 euros. Children, young people, apprentices, and students up to the age of 30 receive a 50 percent discount.

Other Festivals in the State

Alongside the Festspiele MV, other major festivals are also shaping Mecklenburg-Vorpommern's cultural landscape this summer. The Störtebeker Festspiele on Rügen open on 20 June with the play 'Likedeeler' and run until 5 September. The Vorpommersche Landesbühne presents the play 'Die ewige Krone' on Usedom from 27 June to 29 August, in which King Rekar celebrates his tenth jubilee on the throne, while betrayal and intrigue threaten the city of Vineta.

Managing director Andreas Flick stated that the Vorpommersche Landesbühne had refrained from raising prices this year; the last adjustment had taken place the previous year. Tickets for the Vineta play cost 26 to 34 euros for adults, 13 to 21 euros for children up to 15, and 23 to 31 euros reduced.

In addition, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern hosts the Fusion Festival in Lärz (24 to 28 June), Airbeat One in Neustadt-Glewe (8 to 12 July), and the Pangea Festival in Pütnitz (6 to 9 August). While the Festspiele MV defines the profile with chamber music and classical music, the region thereby once again serves a broad musical spectrum ranging from electronic music to R'n'B, indie, and jazz.

Looking ahead to the rest of the season, Haselböck announced that the festival would once again make use of special venues this year. 'Die Festspiele haben sich seit 36 Jahren den Namen als "Trüffelschweine der Klassik" wirklich verdient', she said with regard to the search for unusual performance locations in the region.