A podium for the Baltic Sea region

since 1994

Making the Baltic Sea region resound

World-famous musicians such as Mstislaw Rostropowitsch, Kurt Masur or Ute Lemper have already attracted and still attract the Usedom Music Festival to the island of Usedom, but also guests of state such as Queen Silvia of Sweden, Mikhail Gorbachev, the German Chancellor or former German Presidents. For three weeks from September to October, visitors to the festival, which brings together the countries of the Baltic Sea region, experience the stars and treasures of music from the Baltic Sea region. The annually changing country-focus then shows the whole musical diversity of Northern Europe. At the special concert venues on the island of Usedom, the Usedom Music Festival allows visitors to experience the incomparable atmosphere of a cosmopolitan two-country island facing the states of the Baltic Sea region. The musical riches of the countries and regions connected by the sea are staged in atmospheric churches, picturesquely situated castles, the magnificent buildings of the imperial baths or in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern’s largest industrial monument in Peenemünde. ‘The Usedom Music Festival makes not only the island, but a whole region resound. In fact, the cultural island of Usedom is part of a large family that the Baltic Sea does not separate, but rather connects,’ said the German Chancellor during the celebrations of the festival’s 25th anniversary.

The Usedom Music Festival brings a high musical level to the island of Usedom, a popular touristic region.

New York Times Tweet

... undoubtedly one of the most exciting music festivals in Germany due to its original and high-quality programme and definitely worth a trip to the far north not far from the Polish border.

Bayerischer Rundfunk Tweet

Musical pearl and one of the biggest thematic festivals

The history of the event series began in 1994, with the aim of showing guests how beautiful the island can be in September, after the end of the school holidays. The director of the Usedom Music Festival Thomas Hummel won Kurt Masur, Gewandhauskapellmeister in Leipzig and also chief conductor of the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, as the first patron. He also established a connection to the New York foundation Young Concert Artists. From there, prize winners of the international competition of the same name came to the beach of the Pomeranian Bay. A small transatlantic bridge that still stands today.

Since 1999, the Usedom Music Festival has established itself as the ‘Podium of the Baltic Sea’: every year, one country in the Baltic Sea region is now exclusively at the centre of the programme for the duration of one season – with its music and its musicians. Ten countries belong to the Baltic Sea region: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Russia and Finland. There are countries large and small, countries with famous musicians, countries that have tended to be in the shadow of other celebrities. At the Usedom Music Festival each of these countries gets the same space, the same attention.

This commitment to bringing people together has already been honoured by numerous awards: In 2006 the Tryton Cultural Prize of the city of Swinoujscie, in 2012 the multinational orchestra Baltic Sea Philharmonic, initiated by the Usedom Music Festival and Nord Stream AG, received the honour ‘Excellent Place – In the Land of Ideas’, in 2015 the orchestra received the European Cultural Award as ambassador of the Baltic Sea region and in the years 2015 to 2018 the Usedom Music Festival carried the EFFE seal of approval of the European Union for its ‘artistic and social commitment with an international and global perspective’.

With a three-week programme, the Usedom Music Festival is one of the largest theme-based music festivals in the world, says Festival Director Thomas Hummel: ‘Theme-based festivals usually last only four to seven days, and long-term festivals usually don’t commit themselves to any focus on content. The Usedom Music Festival, which is at home in both Poland and Germany, is a rarity in this respect’.

Peenemünde concerts – international landmark, sounds that unite people

The Peenemünde concerts are also unique in the German festival landscape. Together with the Historical-Technical Museum and the Northern German Radio, the Usedom Music Festival put the turbine hall of the Peenemünde power station into operation as a concert hall in 2002. Where rockets used to be developed and tested, applause now roars. During the ‘Third Reich’, the Peenemünde Army and Air Force test facilities were working on the development of ‘secret weapons’ – including the Aggregat 4 (‘V2’), the world’s first large rocket. It brought death to many thousands of people, but it was also the first successful launch into space. Today Peenemünde is a place of international encounters and peace education with its museum in the power station, cultural events, special exhibitions, project days, workshops and work camps.

Under the direction of Mstislav Rostropovich and with over 250 musicians involved, Benjamin Britten’s ‘War Requiem’ was performed in the turbine hall of the former power station. Since then, conductors of international standing have been engaged. Kurt Masur, appointed Honorary Patron of the Usedom Music Festival in 2012, gave three of his last concerts and two international master classes for young conductors here. Krzysztof Penderecki (2003, 2014), Christoph von Dohnányi (2004), Esa-Pekka Salonen (2005), Alan Gilbert (2006), Andris Nelsons (2007), Christoph Eschenbach, Kurt Masur † (2012 and 2013) and Neeme Järvi (2010, 2013), Paavo Järvi (2013) and Kristjan Järvi (2008, 2009, 2011-2018) and many more consolidated the high musical standards of the Peenemünde concerts.

Today the former rocket factory in Peenemünde is full of music and peace thoughts, and this is exactly what the Usedom Music Festival is all about.

Schwedisches Radio P2 Tweet

Music education at the heart

Since 2006, a gem of the island has enriched the festival: the castle of the Count von Schwerin family in Stolpe, located in the very south of the Stettiner Haff. Together with the Stolper Schlossverein, the Norddeutscher Rundfunk and the Tonkünstlerverband Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the Usedom Music Festival has created the Baltic Sea Music Forum. Year after year, the Lithuanian cellist David Geringas gathers highly talented master students around him and presents the results of their joint work in a concert.

In 2008, the Usedom Music Festival took a big step into the wide world: with the support of Nord Stream AG, a new orchestra was founded – the Baltic Sea Philharmonic. The Estonian conductor Kristjan Järvi gathered excellent young musicians from all ten Baltic Sea countries and formed a new orchestra with his energy, his musicality and his enthusiasm for the culture around ‘the Mediterranean of the North’. From its base in Peenemünde, the orchestra has since conquered the whole of Europe and has become an ambassador for Usedom in the concert halls of the world.

In addition to the three-week regular festival in September and October, the Usedom Music Festival also includes the Usedom Literature Days in spring and the International Days of Jewish Music. The Young Usedom Music Festival with children and youth projects as well as the competition of the Achterkerke Foundation are firmly integrated into the main festival.

In the meantime, the Usedom Music Festival attracts up to fourteen thousand guests per year from home and abroad and radiates – also through the radio broadcasts of its concerts – far into the world.

Festival chronicle

10 countries, one sea, one festival

2018

25 years, one festival

The Usedom Music Festival celebrated its 25th anniversary with stars and treasures of the Baltic Sea region. At the opening ceremony, Chancellor Angela Merkel praised the music festival's work in bringing countries together: 'The Usedom Music Festival makes not only the island but an entire region resound. In fact, the cultural island of Usedom is part of a large family that is not separated by the Baltic Sea but rather connects it.'

2018

2015

European Culture Award

For its achievements, the European Cultural Foundation 'Pro Europa' honoured the Baltic Sea Philharmonic 2015, founded by the Usedom Music Festival, with the prestigious European Cultural Award. The laudation was held by Hans-Dietrich Genscher, former Foreign Minister of the Federal Republic of Germany.

2015

2012

Excellent place in the land of ideas

The Usedom Music Festival receives the award 'Excellent Place - Germany - Land of Ideas' for the Baltic Sea Philharmonic.

2012

2009

Founding of the Usedom Literary Days

Understanding the history of the Germans and the peoples east of the border; discovering new points of view; overcoming prejudices. Since 2009, this is what has motivated renowned authors such as Donna Leon, Martin Walser, Hans Magnus Enzensberger, Christoph Hein, Martin Pollack, Hellmuth Karasek, Andreas Kossert, Stefan Chwin, Arno Surminski and Marek Krajewski to come to the island of Usedom — a place once treasured by literary treasures of the past, including Theodor Fontane, Maxim Gorki and Thomas Mann.

2009

2008

Founding of the Baltic Sea Philharmonic

The Usedom Music Festival took a big step into the wide world in 2008: a new orchestra was founded with support from Nord Stream AG – the Baltic Sea Youth Philharmonic. Director Kristjan Järvi fro Estonia gathers excellent young musicions from all ten countries bordering the Baltic Sea, and forms a new body of sound with his energy, his musicality, and his enthusiasm for the culture around the 'Mediterranean of the North.' Starting in Peenemünde, by now the orchestra has won over all of Europa and has becomte a representative of Usedom in concert halls across the world. It stands on its own feet under the name Baltic Sea Philharmonic, but performs on Usedom every year.

2008

2006

A prize for international understanding

In 2007, the Usedom Music Festival received the Tryton Prize of the City of Świnoujście in the category of Education, Culture and Sport, in special recognition by the city’s mayor of the Festival’s German-Polish engagement.

2006

2006

Founding of the Young Usedom Music Festival

Bright eyes, glowing ears and the opportunity to discover hidden artistic potential through music — together with making music and unleashing undiscovered creativity — all this and more has been on offer at the Young Usedom Music Festival since 2006. From events for young hopefuls out of regional schools to the Young Best in the North, the Festival’s youth series has as its goal to set future careers on course and create a lifelong passion for music.

2006

2006

Queen Silvia of Sweden visits the Usedom Music Festival

In 2006, on the occasion of the 550-year anniversary of Greifswald University, Queen Silvia of Sweden insisted on making a visit to the Usedom Music Festival. A charity concert at the Peenemünde Power Station collected donations for their charity, the ‘World Childhood Foundation.’ Under the direction of Manfred Honeck, the Swedish Radio Symphony orchestra and the choir of the Swedish Radio, the NDR choir, and significant soloists performed Mozart's Symphony No. 1 and his Requiem, as well Ture Rangström's Divertimento Elegiaco.

2006

2006

Founding of the Baltic Sea Music Forum

Since 2006, a gem of the island has enriched the festival: the castle of the Count von Schwerin family in Stolpe, located in the very south of the Stettiner Haff. Thanks to the exemplary restoration work of the Stolpe Castle Association, the building has become an important place of cultural life on the whole island. Together with this association, the Norddeutscher Rundfunk and the Tonkünstlerverband Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the Usedom Music Festival has created the Baltic Sea Music Forum. Year after year, the Lithuanian cellist David Geringas gathers highly talented master students around him and presents the results of their joint work in a concert. Seats for these evenings in the count's salon are best booked well in advance. The rush is enormous. And during the breaks, in the foyer, in front of the cosy fireplace, artists and listeners come closer than anywhere else.

2006

2002

Trailblazer of unity

The highlights of the opening of the Peenemünde concerts on September 28, 2002 included a visit by the former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev. His policies were fundamental for the end of the Cold War and the success of German reunification. For this reason, he enjoys particularly high regard in Germany. Guests and residents of the island celebrated the statesman like a star. A surprise visit by the Russian violinist and conductor Vladimir Spivakov in Liepe rounded out Gorbachev’s stay on Usedom.

2002

2002

First Peenemünde Concert

Usedom Music Festival's beginning in 2002 was unusual in all respects: It took place where a concert was previously inconceivable, and with a piece that blew apart the festival's size scale at the time. The work's cause naturally led it to this place: the memory of the horrors of war and the request for reconciliation. Benjamin Britten's ‘War Requiem’ was debuted on May 30, 1962 at the consecration of new Coventry Cathedral, which had been destroyed by German bombers during a raid in November 1941. Forty years after its debut, the same piece rang out in the turbine hall in Peenemünde with over 250 musicians involved, in a place where rockets had once been developed for the war.
The Peenemünde Concerts were initiated jointly by the Usedom Music Festival, the Historical-Technical Museum Peenemünde and the Northern German Broadcasting.

2002

2000

Great cello artistry on Usedom

David Geringas, winner of the Tchaikovsky Prize and student of the legendary cellist Mstislaw Rostropowitsch, is one of the most renowned cellists in the world. He has been connected with the Festival since 2000. As an artist-in-residence in 2011, he had a decisive part in shaping that year’s Lithuanian focus. Since 2005 he has visited Stolpe every year to teach students at the Baltic Music Forum. He finds it inspiring to work there, often playing with the young musicians late into the night: 'For me, Stolpe has become a regular family outing during the year.'

2000

1999

One festival, ten countries

After five years, the idea emerged to give a thematic focus to the festival that had grown from a few days to a period of two weeks. The good contacts within the Baltic area were quite useful. Estonia became the first country of honor at the festival in 1999. Since then, the Usedom Music Festival has become established as the 'podium of the Baltic Sea': each year one country in the Baltic region is the exclusive focus for the duration of a season – with its music and musicians. Ten countries belong to the Baltic Sea region: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Russia, and Finland. This includes countries great and small, countries with famous musicians, and countries that are rather overshadowed by other famous figures. At the Usedom Music Festival each of these countries receives the same space, the same attention.

1999

1995

The start of an international career

The first concert of the Usedom Music Festival on the Polish side of the island took place in Świnoujście in 1995, and included then-unkown musicians who are now world renowned: violinist Scott Yoo and pianist-composer Fazil Say. The program of the Young Concert Artists prizewinners’ concerts included Mozart, Brahms, Saint-Saëns and Szymanowski, and this contest has brought its talented musicians from America to Usedom in the years since.

1995

Two countries, one island

Poland and Germany are connected through more than the Usedom Music Festival, but nowhere else does their connection sound lovelier. Since 1995 the Festival’s concerts in Świnoujście have contributed to the cultural life of the entire island.

1995

1995

Laureate concerts of the Young Concert Artists

Kurt Masur, the first patron of the Usedom Music Festival and at that time principal conductor of the New York Philharmonic, established a connection with the New York Young Concert Artists Foundation in 1995. From there, prize winners of the international competition of the same name came to the beach of the Pomeranian Bay. This small transatlantic bridge still stands today.

1995

1994

Hour of birth with sea-view

The history of the Usedom Music Festival began on the pier in Seebad Ahlbeck. On September 9, 1994, soprano Tomoko Sakurai-Masur, wife of honorary patron Kurt Masur, opened the first festival season with a song recital.

1994

1994

Founding of the Usedom Music Festival

The Usedom Music Festival has been under the direction of Thomas Hummel for a quarter century, but it was not always what it is today. It needed time to find itself. And it also needed time to grow. In 1993, hotelier Werner Molik with a passion for music had the idea of establishing a music festival on Usedom to show the visitors how beautiful the island could be in September, after school holidays were over. He was able to win over a young man who was studying cultural management in Hamburg at the time as co-founder and to realize the idea: Thomas Hummel, who had trained as a violist, son of the composer Bertold Hummel. The execution of the first Usedom Music Festival in 1994 became the subject of his thesis. Thomas Hummel won the world-renowned conductor and humanist Kurt Masur as his first patron.

1994

In Memoriam
Kurt Masur

Honorary Patron of the Usedom Music Festival

Kurt Masur on the Island of Usedom

Kurt Masur has accompanied the Usedom Music Festival since its beginnings in 1994. With recurring stays on the island, whose magnificent nature always made the maestro enthusiastic, numerous performances and a surprise visit, the great conductor left traces on Usedom.

Traces in the Sand

The landscape of Usedom attracted the maestro and his wife Tomoko Sakurai-Masur again and again to the island at the Pomeranian Bay. On 9 September 1994 the soprano gave the first concert of the Usedom Music Festival on the pier in seaside resort Ahlbeck.

Late orchestra love

Experience and mastery met passion and community spirit – Kurt Masur and the Baltic Sea Philharmonic joined three unforgettable concerts and the joyful experience of learning with and from each other. Kurt Masur on the orchestra, which was awarded the European Culture Prize 2015: ‘The spirit of these young musicians is overwhelming!’

A Lasting Commitment

Right after the first season of the Usedom Music Festival Kurt Masur established contact with the renowned ‘Young Concert Artists’ foundation. Since 1995, the young prize-winners of this demanding competition with its final rounds in Leipzig and New York have been regular guests on Usedom.

Amongst his students

The international master classes for young conductors were legendary. In 2012 and 2013 Maestro Masur taught highly talented conducting students from Germany, Norway, Austria, South Korea, Russia and the USA in the Historical-Technical Museum in Peenemünde.

Friendships

The Usedom Music Festival connects countries and people. In the course of time, many friendships with and around Maestro Masur developed on Usedom. Not only Kristjan Järvi, the founding conductor and artistic director of the Baltic Sea Philharmonic, founded by the Usedom Music Festival and Nord Stream AG, appreciated being together with the great conductor.

Venue

since 2002

Historical-Technical Museum Peenemünde

From 1936 to 1945, Peenemünde was the largest military research centre in Europe. On an area of 25 km², up to 12,000 people worked simultaneously on new types of weapon systems, such as the world’s first cruise missile and the first functioning large rocket. Both were designed as weapons of terror against the civilian population, were largely manufactured by forced labourers and from 1944 onwards were used as “weapons of retaliation” during the Second World War.

The Historical-Technical Museum in Peenemünde reappraises the history of the origin and use of these weapons. The exhibitions document who worked in Peenemünde, how the people lived and why the enormously elaborate weapon projects were carried out.

The turbine hall, in which electricity was once generated for rocket production, has been available as an exhibition and event hall since 2002 thanks to funding from EU and state funds. Every year, the Usedom Music Festival holds its annual Peenemünde concerts here – a unique cooperation in the German museum and festival landscape.

Under the direction of Mstislaw Rostropowitsch and with over 250 participating musicians and soloists from Russia, Great Britain and Germany, the historic site was opened in 2002 as a concert hall for a few moments a year. Benjamin Britten’s “War Requiem” could be heard in the turbine hall of the former power station. Since then the Usedom Music Festival has been able to engage world-class conductors in Peenemünde. Kurt Masur, appointed Honorary Patron of the Usedom Music Festival in 2012, gave three of his last concerts and two international master classes for young conductors here. Krzysztof Penderecki (2003, 2014), Christoph von Dohnányi (2004), Esa-Pekka Salonen (2005), Alan Gilbert (2006), Andris Nelsons (2007), Christoph Eschenbach, Neeme Järvi (2010, 2013), Kurt Masur † (2012 and 2013) and Neeme Järvi (2010, 2013), Paavo Järvi (2013) and Kristjan Järvi (2008, 2009, 2011-2019) and many more consolidated the high musical standard of the Peenemünde concerts.

In the power station – 17449 Peenemünde

Venue

since 2007

Stolpe castle

Since 2010 the concerts of the Baltic Sea Music Forum with and around the Lithuanian cellist David Geringas and his master students form the cultural highlights in this jewel of the island history and architecture.

First mentioned in a document in 1251, the castle was the ancestral seat of the Counts of Schwerin, except for a few interruptions. In the following centuries the Pomeranian dukes were guests several times. It was not until the late Renaissance (1568-1612) that a building was erected which represents the core of the present castle: a two-storey building on a rectangular ground plan with the typical Renaissance blind gables and horizontal cornices. The castle is one of the most important Renaissance buildings in Western Pomerania. Badly damaged during the Thirty Years’ War, the building underwent numerous reconstructions in the following centuries. The simple baroque manor house was turned into a respectable residential castle, which remained in its function until 1945. After the Second World War and nationalisation, the building became increasingly dilapidated, which could only be stopped in 1995. Since then, the community and the Förderverein Schloss Stolpe e.V. have endeavoured to put the estate to a multi-faceted cultural use.

Castle 9 – 17406 Stolpe on Usedom

Festival chronicle

25 years, one festival

European Culture Award

Excellent place in the land of ideas

Founding of the Usedom Literary Days

Founding of the Baltic Sea Philharmonic

A prize for international understanding

Founding of the Young Usedom Music Festival

Queen Silvia of Sweden visits the Usedom Music Festival

Founding of the Baltic Sea Music Forum

Trailblazer of unity

First Peenemünde Concert

Great cello artistry on Usedom

One festival, ten countries

The start of an international career

Two countries, one island

Laureate concerts of the Young Concert Artists

Hour of birth with sea-view

Founding of the Usedom Music Festival

In Memoriam Kurt Masur

Honorary Patron of the Usedom Music Festival

In Memoriam
Kurt Masur