Over 100,000 visitors to the Rheingau Music Festival

Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier and Artistic Director Michael Herrmann at the opening
Photo: Ansgar Klostermann (RMF)

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Over 100,000 tickets were sold for 210 events at 24 venues. Due to the increased space volume and the changed framework conditions during the festival weeks, a total occupancy rate of 86 percent was achieved. Almost half of the concerts were completely sold out. Around 2800 artists were guests at the Rheingau Music Festival.

The Rheingau Music Festival was opened with the benefit concert of Federal President Frank-Walter Steinmeier in the Eberbach Monastery, where Andrés Orozco-Estrada led the opening evening as chief conductor of the Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra for the last time. The Hessian state government and the Rheingau Music Festival also celebrated 75 years of Hessen together. For this occasion, the State Youth Jazz Orchestra with Max Mutzke and the New York Voices under the direction of Wolfgang Diefenbach were invited to the stage of the Wiesbaden spa gardens. The focus of the festival program was the pianist Khatia Buniatishvili, the focus artist the violinist Bomsori Kim, the focus jazz artist Chilly Gonzales and the focus orchestra of the Tenebrae Choir. In addition, under the title “Spot on: Mozart”, the focus was on the composer’s work and work, and the 100th birthday of the Argentine tango king Astor Piazzolla was celebrated with a musical portrait. In addition, the Rheingau Music Festival presented the Chamber Orchestra of Europe with the young elite of the Kronberg Academy in six concerts.

The newly built Fürst von Metternich concert cube at Johannisberg Castle, which is one of the largest mobile concert halls in Europe, generated supraregional radiance. This major project was made possible by the “Neustart Kultur” funding program launched by the “Initiative Musik” and the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media. The Rheingau Music Festival broke new ground in 2021 and created new, spectacular music and meeting spaces in addition to the traditional venues, such as the Strandkorb Open Air concerts in the Brita-Arena.

Artistic director Michael Herrmann emphasizes: “Taking the hygiene concepts into account, we were able to realize unique and safe concert moments without any loss of quality, despite the pandemic, and we often experienced a euphoric audience. The initial reluctance of the audience to buy tickets gradually decreased as the festival continued. “

“The success of this festival year was shaped by the common goal of creating hope for the arts. The positive development of the Rheingau Music Festival as the largest private festival was successfully continued with new concert formats. We look to autumn and the coming season with confidence, ”adds managing director Marsilius Graf von Ingelheim.

Deutsche Telekom AG is the festival’s new digital partner. 12 concerts at this year’s Rheingau Music Festival were selected for the partnership: The media partners of the Rheingau Music Festival, Hessischer Rundfunk, Deutschlandfunk and Deutsche Welle, made a total of 31 recordings, two of which have already been broadcast live and with a delay. There were other concerts on Deutschlandfunk and hr2-kultur.

The Rheingau Musik Festival 2021 Lotto Prize was awarded to the young Spanish violinist María Dueñas. The Rheingau Music Prize 2020 was subsequently awarded to the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra and its artistic director Daniel Barenboim during this year’s festival. Nils Landgren will be awarded the Rheingau Music Prize 2021 on December 11th at 7 p.m. in the Lutherkirche Wiesbaden.

The course has already been set for the coming season. The 36th Rheingau Music Festival will open on June 25, 2022 and will end on September 3, 2022.

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