The Ludwigsburg Festival is getting the 2021 season rolling digitally with new momentum and presenting the »Fest Spiel Ouvertüre« with Oksana Lyniv, Anna Larsson, Christian Elsner and the Festspielorchester. In cooperation with ARTE Concert, the opening concert on 6 May at 8 pm was broadcast as a livestream and is now available on-demand on our Digital Stage until the beginning of November. We look forward to your virtual visit!

[This text has been translated electronically] The Ludwigsburg Festival is launching the 2021 season with new momentum digitally. After the prelude with the “Fest Spiel Overtüre”, we now continue with a project by the STEGREIF.orchester: #bfree. Starting on 8 May on the digital stage. We look forward to your virtual visit!

[This text has been translated electronically] Idolized by musicians, misused in dictatorships, re-adapted as the European anthem – Beethoven’s 9th symphony mirrors the society and shows the dimensions of human behaviour. On Europe Day, we want to take a closer look at the work and its politicized performance history in more detail.

[This text has been translated electronically] Mahler’s “Song of the Earth” gave new meaning to the poetry of Hans Bethge. Likewise, the photographs of J Henry Fair also open up a new dimension. With “Das Lied von der Erde for the 21st Century “ the photographer and environmental activist makes a clear statement: The earth is in danger!

What concerns you and the people from your city? Where do you experience moments of wakefulness, anger or happiness in public space? Searching for poetic moments in society, the workshop »Spoken Moments Poetry« is pursuing a digital concert experiment for collective success. Interested people from the age of 13 can register now.

For almost 40 years, Jean-Georges Noverre's birthday on 29 April has been the occasion for the International Dance Day, which celebrates dance in all its forms and its unifying power. Newly appointed ambassadors from all over the world stand for its global and transnational significance. Now we do not have to think far geographically, because in 2021 the Stuttgart ballet dancer Friedemann Vogel will be the ambassador. Dance is universal, dance is important - also at the Ludwigsburg Festival.

April 16 brings 16 new releases: The media »Dying Swans Project« by Gauthier Dance comprises 16 solo choreographies, each with a different signature. The stage version of this project will take place during this year's Ludwigsburg Festival. Visit our Digital Stage and enjoy these digital masterpieces!

Are you between 17 and mid-20s and interested with diverse and queer topics? Then sign up now for the workshop »Somewhere in Between« with director and choreographer Gary Joplin. In May and June you will spend three weekends exploring diverse identities and orientations. You can find the detailed announcement here.

Originally Edivaldo Ernesto was going to give an insight into his »Depth Movement« technique at the Tanz- und and Theaterwerkstatt Ludwigsburg in May. Due to Corona, his workshop cannot take place as planned. We are looking for an alternative date.

Einstürzende Neubauten have cancelled their »The Year of the Rat Tour« for 2021. The concert planned for May 16, 2021 in Ludwigsburg has been postponed to July 9, 2022.

In the short program of last year's Ludwigsburg Festival, the performance of the Mandelring Quartet with Dmitri Shostakovich's String Quartets Nos. 1, 8 and 15 was a particular highlight. On 8 March 2021, the concert recording will be broadcast by SWR 2. Perfectly the Mandelring Quartet presents Shostakovich's incomparable art between lyrical pain, pointed sharpness and smug grotesqueness.

The founder of contemporary »African Dance« has been committed for decades to the deepening and spreading of African Dance. Since the 1960s, Germaine Acogny has been realizing and manifesting her vision, enriching the african - and eventually the international - dance world as a dancer, teacher and mentor. The Biennale Danza Festival now honours her life's work with the Golden Lion. In anticipation of this year's »Sacre« project, we congratulate her!

Although culture can also provide comfort in lockdown's dark times, there is little evidence of this in Germany at present. But art is education, there is humanity in art, for some people art is perhaps even a substitute religion. Particularly in times when Western democracies are in crisis, when many people have lost confidence, have become fact-resistant, or are conducting discussions with aggression instead of arguments, it can point to a better way.

With »I can't breathe«, the dancer touched not only the visitors of the Ludwigsburg Festival. His renewed performance at the Romaeuropa Festival in September also convinced the jury of the Italian Danza&Danza Awards. We congratulate Edivaldo Ernesto for the award as best dancer 2020!

With the aim of contributing to an open and sustainable society oriented towards the 17 Sustainable Development Goals, the Ludwigsburg Festival 2020 set off into a new decade. The fact that social cohesion can also be created virtually is also demonstrated by Alondra de la Parra with her project »The Impossible Orchestra«.

The 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) were also launched by former German President Horst Köhler, among others. He and his wife Eva Luise Köhler are the patrons of the Ludwigsburg Festival for the 2020 and 2021 seasons. Horst Köhler has shared his thoughts on this in a foreword.