Kissinger Sommer
The festival Kissinger Sommer 2023 will take place for the 37th time from June 16 to July 16, 2023. This year the festival's motto “La Dolce Vita” evokes Franconian Italianità with a nod to its sister spa Montecatini Terme and the many Italian spa guests of the past. The Kissinger Sommer stands out its programme with tailor-made, unique concert offers featuring stars, up-and-coming artists and regional cultural institutions – all set in the picturesque flair of a typical Franconian town. With the guidance of artistic director Alexander Steinbeis, the tradition-steeped festival hosts its concerts in several architecturally interesting venues: In addition to the historic Max Littmann Hall, housed in the large-scale Regentenbau and known worldwide for its magnificent acoustics, the impressive Rossini Hall, the neat and beautifully decorated Kurtheater and the revolving orchestra shell facing the Kurgarten will also be used.
The programme is complemented by outdoor events that aim to show visitors the beauty of the place, including the extensive Kurgarten, the Saale river run laid out by Balthasar Neumann and also the Rose Garden. Additional venues in other surrounding towns such as the famous monastery Maria Bildhausen in Münnerstadt or the König-Ludwig I.-hall in Bad Brückenau give an insight of the festival’s wide artistic spectrum and its regional surroundings.
Since 2021, Bad Kissingen has been part of the Unesco World Heritage “Great Spa Towns of Europe” together with ten other spa towns – an award that not only honours the past as a social “hotspot” of the 19th century high nobility, but also points to the future. With outstanding artistic guests, numerous important symphony orchestras and exciting new concert formats, the Kissinger Sommer aims to combine both: The splendor and magnificence of the past with current artistic trends. The festival thus invites everyone to visit – young or old, expert or early classical music fan.
