Rheingau Musik Festival


The Rheingau Musik Festival is an international summer music festival in Germany, founded in 1987. It is mostly for classical music, but includes other genres. Concerts take place at culturally important locations, such as Eberbach Abbey and Schloss Johannisberg, in the wine-growing Rheingau region between Wiesbaden and Lorch.

Initiative and realisation

The festival was the initiative of Michael Herrmann, who has served as its artistic director and chief executive officer. Like the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival founded in 1986, the Rheingau festival was intended to add life to a region rich in musical heritage. The gothic church of Kiedrich houses the oldest playable organ in Germany, and has its own "dialect" of Gregorian chant that dates back to 1333. In more recent times, the Rheingau has inspired composers such as Johannes Brahms, who composed his Symphony No. 3 in Wiesbaden and frequently stayed in Rüdesheim, and Richard Wagner, who worked on Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg in Biebrich.
To test the festival idea, two concerts took place in Eberbach Abbey in the summer of 1987. In November 1987 the Rheingau Musik Festival e. V. was founded by Michael Herrmann, Tatiana von Metternich-Winneburg, Walter Fink, Hans Otto Jung, Michael Bolenius, Hans-Clemens Lucht, Ulrich Rosin and Claus Wisser. The association organized the festival from the first season in 1988 which included 19 concerts until 1992. It has continued to support the festival since. The RMF receives significant financial help from sponsors who choose to fund their own concerts.
The Rheingau Musik Festival is under the patronage of the minister-president of Hesse. Michael Herrmann was awarded the Goethe-Plakette of Hesse in 2002.
The RMF has grown to be one of Germany's important festivals presenting around 140 events every summer with international orchestras, ensembles and soloists. It is a member of the European Festivals Association. For the 2023 season, 164 concerts at 29 locations were announced.
On 17 June 2012, the [|25th anniversary] of the festival was celebrated at the Kurhaus, Wiesbaden.

Locations

The concerts of the first season took place at Kloster Eberbach, in the hall and church of Schloss Johannisberg, at St. Martin in Lorch, at the Rheingauer Dom in Geisenheim, and in Wiesbaden at the Marktkirche and the Kurhaus.
Important locations have also included Schloss Vollrads, the Abbey St. Hildegard in Eibingen, the churches St. Valentin in Kiedrich, the romanesque Basilika St. Aegidius of Mittelheim and St. Georg und Katharina in Wiesbaden-Frauenstein, the Parkhotel of the spa Schlangenbad, the Lutherkirche in Wiesbaden and the Alte Oper in Frankfurt am Main. Concerts have been staged in churches such as St. Jakobus, Rüdesheim, castles and former presshouses. An annual Sommerfest is held at Schloss Johannisberg while other open-air concerts have taken place in wineries and vineyards, on river boats, in the cloisters of Eberbach, the courts of Vollrads and the Kurpark Wiesbaden.

Program

Most events are dedicated to classical music, but cabaret, jazz, readings, musical cruises, children's concerts, wine tastings or culinary events with music add to a diverse program.

Opening concert

The Rheingau Musik Festival is traditionally opened in Eberbach Abbey by a concert of the hr-Sinfonieorchester, broadcast live. The first concert was on 23 June 1988 a performance of two works by C. P. E. Bach, his Magnificat and the oratorio Die Israeliten in der Wüste. Frieder Bernius conducted the Kammerchor Stuttgart and the Barockorchester Stuttgart, with soloists Nancy Argenta, Lena Lootens, Mechthild Georg, Howard Crook and Stephen Roberts. A cycle of the symphonies of Gustav Mahler, conducted by Paavo Järvi, continued in 2011 with the Fifth Symphony, programmed with Alban Berg's Sieben frühe Lieder, sung by Elena Garanca. In 2013, Mahler's Sixth Symphony was preceded by Wagner's Wesendonck Lieder, sung by Anne Sofie von Otter. In 2016, Christoph Eschenbach conducted Schubert's Unfinished Symphony and Bruckner's Sixth Symphony The 2019 festival was opened by Dvořák's Stabat Mater, with the MDR Rundfunkchor and the hr Sinfonieorchester conducted by Andrés Orozco-Estrada.
File:Steinmeier reception.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|President Frank-Walter Steinmeier addressing a group at his reception after the 2021 opening concert, with Volker Bouffier and Michael Herrmann listening
The 2020 festival had to be cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2021 festival was opened on 26 June, traditionally by the hr-Sinfonieorchester, and as the last program with Orozco-Estrada. Due to restrictions, the 650 listeners were placed like a checker board, 2 seats taken, and 2 seats empty; the program was played without intermission. Augustin Hadelich was the soloist in the Violin Concerto by Jean Sibelius, which was followed by Mendelssohn's Reformation Symphony. The concert was at the same time a charity concert of President Frank-Walter Steinmeier who spoke at the beginning with a focus on the support and encouragement of music students to follow their calling even in critical times. After the concert, he invited to a reception at various areas of the property, addressing each group there.
The opening concert in 2023 was focused on French music with the Te Deum by Berlioz, conducted by Alain Altinoglu, who conducted Gounod's St. Cecilia Mass with the MDR Rundfunkchor in a live-streamed concert in 2025.

Anniversaries

Every year, composers' anniversaries are celebrated. In 2009, six concerts were given each to music by Handel, including Israel in Egypt with the Monteverdi Choir under John Eliot Gardiner; by Haydn, including The Creation conducted by Enoch zu Guttenberg; and by Mendelssohn, including Elijah with the Collegium Vocale Gent under Philippe Herreweghe. In 2010, Robert Schumann and Frédéric Chopin were celebrated in 16 concerts, such as Paradise and the Peri and piano music by Chopin with Daniel Barenboim. Seven concerts were devoted to Mahler and Hugo Wolf, such as Spanisches Liederbuch. Christian Gerhaher and Gerold Huber performed Mahler's Rückert-Lieder and songs from Das Lied von der Erde. In 2011 they performed the composer's Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Des Knaben Wunderhorn and Kindertotenlieder.
2014 remembers three anniversaries of birth, 450 of Shakespeare, 300 of C.P.E. Bach and 150 of Richard Strauss. Bach's oratorio Die Auferstehung und Himmelfahrt Jesu was performed by Hermann Max conducting the Rheinische Kantorei and Das Kleine Konzert, with soloists Veronika Winter, Markus Schäfer and Matthias Vieweg.

Theme

Every year, some concerts are grouped around a theme; in 2010, Wanderlust, in eight concerts, including one of the ensemble amarcord, in 2011 the opposite: Homesickness. The theme of 2014 was Liebespaare.
The theme of 2016, Starke Frauen, was expressed in a concert of Mad Songs of the time of English restoration, performed by Dorothee Mields and the Lautten Compagney, combining folk songs and art songs mostly by Henry Purcell.
In 2023, the festival announced themes including works by Gustav Mahler, Bach's Goldberg Variations and Stravinsky's Le Sacre du Printemps, both these works in several interpretations.

Treffpunkt Jugend

Soloists still in their teens are presented at the regular series Treffpunkt Jugend. They play in two Marathon concerts chamber music and concertos with orchestra.

Work cycles

Some performances are presented over several years, such as the piano sonatas of Ludwig van Beethoven by Rudolf Buchbinder. From 2003 to 2011, Eliahu Inbal conducted a series of the complete symphonies of Bruckner at Eberbach Abbey with the WDR Symphony Orchestra Cologne, concluding with the unfinished Ninth Symphony.

Marienvesper

Every year on 15 August the Assumption of Mary is celebrated by a Marienvesper, in 2010 Monteverdi's Vespro della Beata Vergine 1610 was performed to mark the 400th anniversary of the work, with the RIAS Kammerchor and the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, conducted by Hans-Christoph Rademann. In 2011 the ensemble Concerto Romano, conducted by Alessandro Quarta, performed a combination of works by composers from Rome, Vincenzo Ugolini, Paolo Tarditi, Domenico Massenzio, and in particular Lorenzo Ratti. In 2013 Monteverdi's Vespers were performed again, this time by the ensemble amarcord with additional singers, and the Lautten Compagney conducted by Wolfgang Katschner.

Organ concert

Organ concerts have been played on the historic instruments of the region by organists such as Marie Claire Alain, Gabriel Dessauer, Edgar Krapp and Ignace Michiels.

Rendezvous

In 2010 a new series started, presenting artists before their concerts in a separate Rendezvous: Christoph Eschenbach, the percussionist Martin Grubinger and Menahem Pressler. The guests in 2011 were Andreas Scholl and Christian Gerhaher.

Portraits of living composers

A special feature of the RMF is the annual Komponistenporträt, the presentation of a living composer in talk and music. It was initiated by Walter Fink and has been sponsored by him. From the beginning in 1990 the core of this portrait has been the invitation of a composer for an interview with chamber music. The modern ESWE Atrium was a fitting venue, but since a larger audience got interested the talks were moved to Schloss Johannisberg. In later years more concerts were added, sometimes in different locations, sometimes showing the works of the featured composer in relation to other music, concentrating on large scale works since 2005. Some composers have played or conducted themselves.
Songs by Wolfgang Rihm on texts by Goethe were performed, juxtaposed with Goethe-settings by Schubert, by Christian Gerhaher and Gerold Huber on 3 August 2014, just before a performance at the Salzburg Festival. They included the second performance of Harzreise.