Festival

The 20th Grafenegg Festival begins on 14 August 2026 and runs until 6 September 2026. For the 20th time, the historic landscape gardens surrounding Grafenegg Castle will be transformed into a bustling festival venue, hosting world-class orchestras and the leading artists of our time: at the iconic Wolkenturm, in the auditorium, in the castle courtyard and, for the first time, in the new Rudolf Buchbinder Hall, which shines as a new jewel on the upper floor of the riding school – Grafenegg’s newest venue, offering a magnificent view of the castle park. For the 20th time, Grafenegg celebrates music, life, nature and how it all comes together with a particularly lavish anniversary programme. 

A diverse range of music performed to the highest standard: this has been at the heart of the Grafenegg Festival from the very beginning. In 2026, the programme will span everything from solo recitals, chamber music and lieder to large-scale choral and orchestral works and concertante opera, and from popular solo concertos and symphonies to exciting world premieres and first performances.

In 2026, however, the programme in Grafenegg will also be expanded to include a new concert series: during the afternoon concerts every festival Saturday at 3.30 pm in the Rudolf Buchbinder Hall, music will be performed in a more intimate setting with optimal acoustic conditions. Thanks to its location and design, the new hall also invites visitors to a very special overall experience, which naturally includes the sweeping view over the castle grounds.

The series of international guest orchestras kicks off on 14 August with the Philharmonia Orchestra London, conducted by Cristian Măcelaru. Together with artistic director Rudolf Buchbinder on the piano, the Wiener Singverein, the Wiener Chormädchen, soprano Nikola Hillebrand, tenor Nicholas Phan and baritone Germán Olvera, the Grafenegg Festival will open in particularly festive style with Ludwig van Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy and Carl Orff’s «Carmina Burana».

The festival will continue with the European Union Youth Orchestra conducted by Gustavo Gimeno, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra for a double guest performance with Lahav Shani – who will later return with the Munich Philharmonic – the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra conducted by Santtu-Matias Rouvali, the Vienna Philharmonic conducted by Tugan Sokhiev, the Mahler Chamber Orchestra with Yuja Wang and Teddy Abrams, the Danish National Symphony Orchestra with Fabio Luisi, the Festival Strings Lucerne with Daniel Dodds, and the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini with Riccardo Muti for the festival finale. 

The Bayreuth Festival Orchestra returns to the Wolkenturm for its second guest performance in 2024, conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado, with excerpts from «Parsifal»; joining them is the Austrian star tenor Andreas Schager in the title role. The Tonkunstler Orchestra will also perform opera, a concert performance of Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s global hit «Die tote Stadt», with Camilla Nylund, Eric Cutler and Samuel Hasselhorn in the leading roles, conducted by Axel Kober. The Residenzorchester will also present the premiere of Composer-in-Residence Olga Neuwirth’s rhapsody for clarinet and orchestra «Zones of Blue», as well as the world premieres of compositions by participants in the Composer-Conductor Workshop «Ink Still Wet». In addition, there will be a concert featuring Domingo Hindoyan and another conducted by Tonkünstler’s principal conductor Fabien Gabel, who will conduct music by Ottorino Respighi and Mél Bonis, as well as the final aria from Richard Strauss’s opera «Salome» and «Casta Diva» from Bellini’s «Norma», with star soprano Asmik Grigorian as soloist. 

The 12 cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic, the Capucelli Ensemble, and outstanding soloists such as Martha Argerich, Piotr Beczała, Rudolf Buchbinder, Gautier Capuçon, Joyce DiDonato, Sergei Dogadin, Martin Fröst, Julia Hagen, Alexandre Kantorow, Anneleen Lenaerts, Víkingur Ólafsson, Karl-Heinz Schütz, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider, Daniil Trifonov, Jörg Widmann, Gregor Zeppenfeld and many more will be shaping the Grafenegg Festival 2026. And not to be forgotten: the supporting programme, featuring Prélude concerts on festival Sundays, three Late Night Sessions and numerous introductory talks by renowned music journalists.