Socks, party and halftime celebration

A brisk ride through the fourth week of the festival

Halfway through, the midpoint—you name it—suddenly four weeks have already flown by! So many months of planning, and then the festival season flies by in the blink of an eye. Still, there’s no reason to be sad, because we still have half of it ahead of us, including our “Monrepos Open Airs,” the final opera at the Schlosstheater, and our small but exquisite concerts at Monrepos and Favorite Palaces. This fourth festival weekend was anything but “small and fine”! World-famous stars and their fans packed the sold-out Ordenssaal, an anniversary celebration complete with cake, the first edition of our Festival Nights, and three days of opera parties at the Schlosstheater featuring star soprano Maayan Licht.

Nice socks

Actually, all of us on the Schlossfestspiele team are just little fanboys and fangirls who sometimes can’t believe how close we get to the world’s biggest (classical) stars. It’s all the more wonderful when encounters with these very artists aren’t just pleasant on a personal level, but also bring us back down to earth every now and then. Even the greatest pianists of our time, like Hayato Sumino, are only human—and every now and then, they might lose something as mundane as a pair of socks. No one would have guessed that morning on the way to the office that, just a few hours later, we’d be buying black socks for Hayato Sumino at the nearby department store—definitely a »made my day« moment!

Classical stars on a field trip

It’s not just socks that find their way onto the stage quite spontaneously—two other objects from the personal household collections of our Schlossfestspiel team also made their debut. A garden bench and a picnic basket unexpectedly found their way from the offices and gardens of two of our colleagues into the production of Nina Brazier’s »Didone abbandonata«.

Not that the ensemble—featuring Maayan Licht, Jone Martínez, Olivia Vermeulen, Calerio Contaldo, Leandro Marziotte, and Suzanne Jerosme—needed many props (even if Maayan Licht’s coat did attract quite a few glances). Their voices and performances alone were so overwhelming that the sold-out Schloss Theater was in a frenzy. For an entire week, the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, led by music director Francesco Corti, and the soloists rehearsed in the still-warm Schlosstheater for the return of a Jommelli work to the creative home of the former court composer. This not only brings people closer together but also takes on the feel of a school trip, complete with newly discovered favorite cafés and backstage Instagram Stories—live, during the performance—simply magnificent!

Fado, funk, festival vibe

It wasn’t just the opera-goers among you who had a great time—but also all fans of fado, funk, and festival nights! This was the first time we hosted this very special event—and we’re already hyped for next year!

In the light of the setting sun, the courtyard of the Karlskaserne filled up, and the setting was as promising as it was summery: With oven-fresh pizza, regional and Portuguese wines, and delicious ice cream from Konditorei Schurr’s pink ice cream truck, it’s a pleasure to linger under the large plane tree. The opening acts are as diverse as they are enchanting: indie pop, jazz, and folk are on the program Thursday with Korean singer-songwriter Youn Sun Nah. The »happy side« of fado (yes, there is such a thing!) comes to life with Carminho—it seems almost surreal that she, who until recently was sharing the stage with the magnificent Rosalía in Lisbon, is now performing here in the courtyard of the Karlskaserne, telling her very own fado story with such sensitivity, openness, and warmth.

The final encores are still echoing across the courtyard when, at the first notes of the saxophone, heads turn: the Mannschaftsgebäude. Two women in colorful dresses elegantly step out of the window—it’s time for Il Posto’s spectacular show. Almost as if in a trance, the two dancers begin their spectacular performance high above the ground, weaving together with the video projections on the facade of the Karlskaserne—amazed gazes everywhere, and perhaps even a secret desire to try their hand at vertical facade dancing themselves.

If facade dancing is too risky for you, no problem: the Dutch boy band Jungle by Night invites you not only onto the dance floor, but straight to a front-row party! Colorful lights, funky sounds, a drink in hand—if that doesn’t scream pure summer vibes! Less funky but hardly any less rhythmic, Latin Grammy winner Zé Ibarra takes the stage on Friday—and everyone joins in. Two wonderful closing acts for two fantastic evenings!

As you can see, the first half of the Festival Summer has set the bar high—and we’re doing everything we can to make the second half even better!

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