Critic's choice
Festival
Festival Jazz à Vienne from june 26 to july 11
For the opening night of the Jazz à Vienne festival, two exceptional artists share the stage. Legendary double bassist Avishai Cohen, always on the lookout for new talent, presents his album Brightlight. At the same time, renowned drummer and conductor Anne Paceo unveils Atlantis, a unique premiere performance featuring the Lyon Regional Conservatory. An evening under the banner of boldness and musical exploration. For information and reservations, visit jazzavienne.com
Festival
Enescu Festival 2025
The 27th George Enescu International Festival will be held in Bucharest, Romania, from August 24 to September 21, 2025, under the artistic direction of renowned conductor Cristian Măcelaru. As one of the world’s premier classical music festivals, it will bring together over 4,000 artists from 28 countries and feature more than 80 orchestras, choirs, and chamber ensembles.
This edition, themed Celebrations, marks the 70th anniversary of George Enescu’s passing with over 45 performances of his works, including symphonies, chamber music, orchestral suites, and his opera Oedipe, presented by the Bucharest National Opera. The festival also honors anniversaries of major composers such as Maurice Ravel, Gabriel Fauré, Pierre Boulez, Arvo Pärt, J.S. Bach, and Dmitri Shostakovich.
Top orchestras performing include the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra, Tonhalle-Orchester Zürich, Czech Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Dresden, Orchestra dell’Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.
Celebrated soloists featured this year include violinists Anne-Sophie Mutter, Isabelle Faust, Augustin Hadelich and Renaud Capuçon; pianists Martha Argerich, Kirill Gerstein, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Lucas & Arthur Jussen; and cellists Gautier Capuçon, Sol Gabetta, Kian Soltani and Alisa Weilerstein.
Concerts will take place in seven iconic Bucharest venues, including the Romanian Athenaeum, Radio Hall, and Palace Hall. Innovative series such as Enescu in Control and the Enescu – JTI Immersive Experience reimagine Enescu’s legacy through bold, modern artistic collaborations.
For more information and the full schedule, visit www.festivalenescu.ro.
Festival
Festival Internacional del Saxofone de Palmela 2025
FISP was born in July 2005 and is now celebrating 20 years of a utopia that aims, above all, to promote ideals of equality and solidarity in the context of the development of the saxophone, in the artistic, pedagogical, scientific and social spheres. This will be a special edition that, in addition to celebrating the 20th anniversary of the festival, will also act as a manifest for human rights, embodied in the implementation of the artistic project “TODOS”, where the international saxophone community will join hands to recall the best that humanity has to offer.
FISP is a neutral space, a space of nobody and everyone, far away from politics and so close to a strong heterogeneity that summarizes the impetus, the will, of a community of musicians (around the saxophone), involving different areas (artistic, academic, scientific) and diverse stylistic geographies, who believe in and identify themselves with the mission of this festival, a space for sharing new projects and ideas, a space where everyone one gives and everyone receives, in a context of unique human and social involvement.
40 concerts (classical, jazz, contemporary, world…), “Vitor Santos” International Saxophone Competition, +200 hours of masterclass, workshops, lectures, scientific presentations, clinics, among a lot of sharing, friendship and fun.
Festival
Festival de Granada 2025
The Granada International Music and Dance Festival is one of the most emblematic cultural events in Spain. It is held between June and July in the palaces of the Alhambra and in the main monuments of the city and the province of Granada, and is known not only for its extraordinary stages and the presence of the great performers of the moment, but also for its commitment to young artists who are destined to become the masters of the future.
The Granada Festival is a living instrument of cultural action, whose common denominator is emotion. The emotion of sharing artistic proposals of exceptional quality; the emotion of enjoying the most beautiful and unique spaces in Granada; the emotion of discovering that Granada offers a unique cultural tourism experience; the emotion and satisfaction of verifying that, for a few weeks, the Granada Festival becomes a real driving force for the economy and culture of this city, thanks to the thousands of artists, orchestras, companies and visitors who come to this Festival of the Senses. More information: www.granadafestival.org