The Magic of Music in August
Great Figures and Extraordinary Encounters
August at Schloss Elmau is all about musical curiosity. Exceptional international artists open up new perspectives on classical music and jazz, engage in chamber music dialogues, and create music spontaneously in the moment. Three special concert projects invite you to hear familiar works in a new light and experience rare musical combinations in the unique atmosphere of Schloss Elmau.
August 1 | Carolin & David Kebekus
Saturday, August 1 | Carolin and David Kebekus
Carolin and David Kebekus are taking the stage together in Elmau for the first time—as siblings united by their keen observation, their love of contradiction, and the art of the surprising punchline. Both present their own acts while also coming together in a joint performance.
Good humor doesn't confirm what we already think. It shakes our certainties, exposes contradictions, and, for a moment, opens up a different perspective on the world. Perhaps that is where its liberating power lies: We don't laugh because everything is harmless—
Tuesday, August 4 | Ganes
Ganes’ music has its roots in the Dolomites, but it doesn’t stop there. In their songs, these South Tyrolean musicians blend the Ladin language and culture with contemporary poetry, world music, and new sounds.
Her program “Vives!” is a call to life: powerful and tender, grounded and open to the world. A concert that shows that home doesn’t have to be a fixed place, but rather a language that can constantly reinvent itself.
August 6 | Janine Jansen & Friends
Thursday, August 6 | Janine Jansen & Friends
Janine Jansen and Denis Kozhukhin share a long-standing musical partnership. At Schloss Elmau, they will perform violin sonatas by Beethoven and Brahms—works in which virtuosity is never an end in itself, but rather a prerequisite for a conversation without words.
When the violin and piano do not accompany each other but listen to one another, that rare form of musical intimacy arises in which two distinct voices seem, for a moment, to become one.
Saturday, August 8 | Janine Jansen & Friends
Janine Jansen, Daniel Blendulf, and Denis Kozhukhin perform Schubert’s great Piano Trio in E-flat major. A work of overwhelming beauty in which lightness and melancholy, hope and farewell are inextricably intertwined.
Schubert’s music seems to tell of a world that is already slipping away at the very moment of its creation. Perhaps that is precisely where its timeless power lies: it reminds us how precious everything is that cannot last.
Tuesday, August 11 | Pablo Ferrández
With his Suites for Solo Cello, Johann Sebastian Bach created music that requires neither an orchestra nor a large stage. A single voice is enough to bring to life an entire cosmos of movement, order, and emotion.
Spanish cellist Pablo Ferrández approaches these works with technical mastery and great expressiveness. An evening in which the cello not only sings, but also asks questions, doubts, dances, and finds itself.
August 13 & 15 | A Weekend with Avi Avital
Thursday, August 13 | A Weekend with Avi Avital
The mandolin has long been associated with folk music and Mediterranean lightness. In the hands of Avi Avital, it becomes an instrument of astonishing depth, clarity, and dramatic power.
Together with harpsichordist Sebastian Wienand, he performs works by Scarlatti, Vivaldi, and Bach. The focus here is not on historical reconstruction, but on vibrant transformation: music from past centuries suddenly feels contemporary, immediate, and fresh.
Saturday, August 15 | A Weekend with Avi Avital
Avi Avital has no qualms about pushing boundaries. Together with Leo Rondón on the Venezuelan cuatro and Mario Capodicasa on the double bass, he takes the mandolin out of the classical concert hall and into a world full of rhythms, colors, and improvisational freedom.
Different musical traditions do not clash with one another. Instead, they become part of a shared dialogue—and demonstrate that musical boundaries often exist only until exceptional musicians transcend them.
August 17–20 | Concerts & Master Classes with Gautier Capuçon
Monday, August 17 | Concerts & Master Classes with Gautier Capuçon
Gautier Capuçon is one of the most prominent cellists of our time. He will be performing alongside his longtime piano partner, Frank Braley, to kick off his concerts and master classes.
With works by Fauré, Debussy, Messiaen, and Poulenc, the two artists present a panorama of French music: elegant and sensual, spiritual and radical. At the same time, this concert kicks off a week in which musical mastery is not only showcased but also passed on to a new generation.
Tuesday, August 18 | Concerts & Master Classes with Gautier Capuçon
Perhaps not through a competition or a contract, but rather through that moment when one’s own musical voice becomes audible. In the first concert featuring the scholarship recipients of the Fondation Gautier Capuçon, outstanding young string players and pianists will perform as soloists and in various chamber music ensembles.
She is joined by Gautier Capuçon and Frank Braley. Experience and innovation come together—not in a hierarchical relationship, but as a shared musical adventure.
Wednesday, August 19 | Concerts & Master Classes with Gautier Capuçon
In the morning, they rehearse, ask questions, discard ideas, and start over. In the evening, their collaborative work takes the form of a concert. The young musicians of the Fondation Gautier Capuçon present works they have prepared during the public master classes.
In this way, not only is the result audible, but so is the journey toward it: the search for a sound, an approach, and a unique interpretation. Music does not appear as a finished work of art, but as an ongoing process.
Thursday, August 20 | Concerts & Master Classes with Gautier Capuçon
The big names, the institutions, and the traditions—or the young artists who are ready to reexamine all of this? In the third concert of the series, the scholarship recipients of the Fondation Gautier Capuçon will perform as soloists, in duos, and in trios.
Together with Gautier Capuçon and Frank Braley, they demonstrate that mentorship means more than technical perfection. It creates the space in which talent can develop into personality and skill into artistic responsibility.
Saturday, August 22 | Fleur Barron & Friends
"Spring Snow" combines Schubert's "Winterreise" with the narrative world of Japanese Kabuki theater. At the heart of both works are love, loss, and a person searching for their way between memory and reality.
Mezzo-soprano Fleur Barron explores Schubert’s song cycle alongside musicians, actors, and dancers from diverse traditions. The result is not merely a fusion of cultures, but a dialogue about the experiences that connect people across time and continents.
Tuesday, August 25 | Book Presentation & Discussion with Katja Gloger and Georg Mascolo on *
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In their book *Das Versagen: An Investigative History of German Policy Toward Russia*, Katja Gloger and Georg Mascolo examine how warnings were ignored for decades, dependencies were created, and critical voices were silenced. At Schloss Elmau, the Russia expert and the former editor-in-chief of *Der Spiegel* speak with Wolfgang Schmidt about the findings of their sensational investigation.
Her analysis is not merely about political missteps. It raises a more fundamental question: Why do societies cling to a familiar worldview for so long, even when reality has long since contradicted it? The answer is uncomfortable—and precisely for that reason, indispensable for understanding our present.
August 27 & 29 | A Long Weekend with Michael Wollny
Thursday, August 27 | A Long Weekend with Michael Wollny
Michael Wollny and Émile Parisien are among the most distinctive voices in European jazz. One transforms the piano into an entire orchestra; the other makes the soprano saxophone whisper, sing, and explode.
Their interaction isn't about fixed roles, but about attentiveness and spontaneous response. Every note can open up a new direction. Here, jazz becomes an art of the moment—irrepeatable, risky, and completely in the present.
Saturday, August 29 | A Long Weekend with Michael Wollny
Under the title “Into the Unknown,” Michael Wollny and percussionist Alexej Gerassimez come together for the first time. The piano and percussion do not form a conventional duo, but rather an almost limitless laboratory of rhythm, sound, and silence.
Both musicians share a passion for experimentation and the ability to transform virtuosity into imagination. A concert without a familiar roadmap—and for that very reason, an invitation to rediscover the joy of listening.
August Cultural Program: Book Now
Elmau Castle Concert Hall
Source: Leopold Fiala
