KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen - Arts and Drama Festival Herrenhausen

June 1st  -  June 17th 2012 in Hanover

Following a successful start in 2010, the Royal Gardens of Herrenhausen are once more the chosen stage and setting for the third KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen. The festival will run for a period of two weeks from June 1st up to the 17th of June.

In June 2012, the Royal Gardens of Herrenhausen in the north of Hanover will form the setting for the third KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen. This internationally oriented festival under the artistic direction of Elisabeth Schweeger is focused on a different motto each year and takes place in the Baroque gardens adjacent to the unique location of Castle Herrenhausen with its scientific centre where extensive restoration work is nearing completion (autumn 2012). This combination of art, science and nature is characteristic for the KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen, a festival inaugurated in June 2010. The motto chosen for the first festival was “The Power of Game” and last year’s festival was devoted to the topic “Unleashed worlds”.

The motto for 2012 is “Fragile Balance” with a multifaceted, cross-genre programme encompassing around 20 events which will bring a wide variety of ensembles to Hanover such as the Austrian Musikbanda Franui, the Basel Sinfonietta and the renowned percussion ensemble Les Percussions de Strasbourg.

Illustrious guests at the previous two festivals include Lord Anthony Giddens, Klaus Maria Brandauer, Vivienne Westwood, Christoph Schlingensief, Roger Willemsen, Heiner Goebbels, André Wilms, Roman Signer, Georg Nussbaumer, the Venice Baroque Orchestra and the Ensemble Modern.

In the spirit of the philosopher Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz who played a significant role in the design of the Herrenhausen Gardens, the KunstFestSpiele aims to provide space for innovative artistic activities spanning both tradition and modernity with a focus on music in dialogue with other disciplines; ancient and modern music are juxtaposed to create new tonal fields and the festival programme’s wide spectrum is complemented by music theatre, installations, performances and film concerts. In-house productions will be commissioned and also co-productions, for example with the Theatre Basel, the Vienna festival Wiener Festwochen, the theatre Staatsschauspiel in Dresden, the Biennale Salzburg and the Casa da Música in Porto, and a variety of guest artists will be invited to participate.

Festival visitors and international media representatives will have retained vivid lasting memories of productions in the previous KunstFestSpiele such as "Orfeo – Love will tear us apart” under the musical supervision of Olof Boman and stage direction of Alexander Charim and “Semele Walk”, a collaboration between Vivienne Westwood and the breathtakingly unique ensemble Kaleidoskop. A further highlight of the KunstFestSpiele programme in Herrenhausen is the “Academy of Play” which was founded with the objective of providing young persons with a week-long opportunity to encounter first-class artists and their individual genres. The results of these workshops will be presented in a concluding event entitled the “Pavilion of the Senses”.

Ticket Sale
Advance ticket sales for this year's festival has already started. The website for the festival has been completely revamped. From the beginning of 2012 it will provide all the latest information concerning the festival programme and all events. The programme can be downloaded, and all recent press commentaries and photos are documented and are available for downloading free of charge.

Click here for more information: KunstFestSpiele Herrenhausen

The festival KunstFestSpiele is organised by the Cultural Promotion Department of the City of Hanover.