Enticement

ENTICEMENT: International Handel Festival Göttingen with Stars of Baroque Music from May 14 to 25, 2026

The 2026 International Handel Festival Göttingen will take place under the motto ENTICEMENT. Over twelve festival days, from May 14 to 25, during Ascension and Pentecost, the world's oldest festival for early music will entice audiences with 96 events, bringing around 550 artists to the university city on the River Leine.

At the program presentation on February 4 in Göttingen, Managing Director Jochen Schäfsmeier explained the motto as follows:

“Enticement will be explored in various forms at this year's Festival: in the Festival Opera Deidamia, it manifests as a human conflict between love and fame; in Messiah, it appears as spiritual hope; and in Igor Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale, as dangerous deception. Together, these three works demonstrate the many ways musical enticement can be shaped — between destruction, inner tension, and the creation of meaning.”

Gala Concert Celebrating the Anniversary of the FestspielOrchester Göttingen

For twenty years, instrumentalists specializing in Baroque music from ten countries have gathered annually in Göttingen to form an orchestra dedicated to historical performance practice, bringing the sound world of the Baroque vividly to life based on the latest research in instrumental performance. To celebrate this milestone, the Festival will honour its orchestra with a Gala Concert (Thursday, May 14) featuring Handel’s renowned Music for the Royal Fireworks, among other pieces. At the after-show party, several folk and jazz bands will perform, showcasing the musical versatility of members of the FestspielOrchester.

The Festival’s Artistic Director, George Petrou, speaks enthusiastically about his collaboration with the musicians of the FestspielOrchester:

“Over the past four years, we have gotten to know each other not only artistically, but also on a very personal level. We have become friends and developed a wonderful relationship. I am very proud to be part of the Festival with this orchestra.”

Opera and Oratorio

Once again, the Festival Opera takes centre stage. This year, the last of the 42 operas by George Frideric Handel, Deidamia (premiere on Friday, May 15), will be presented in a co-production with the Irish Wexford Festival Opera, staged and conducted by Festival Artistic Director George Petrou. Internationally acclaimed singers such as Bruno de Sá, Sophie Junker, and Nicolò Balducci will return to the stage of the Deutsches Theater Göttingen. Handel’s most famous oratorio, Messiah, will be performed at the Stadthalle Göttingen with the NDR Vokalensemble and an equally outstanding solo cast (Friday, May 22).

Chamber Concerts Throughout the City…

Again this year, the Handel Festival will explore the diversity of Baroque music in numerous chamber concerts in Göttingen and the surrounding region. Even before the Festival officially begins, audiences can enjoy a special highlight on April 25: star soprano Julia Lezhneva, otherwise at home on the world’s opera stages, will bring arias from the Renaissance and Baroque to life in an intimate duo setting with lutenist Luca Pianca.

Recorder virtuoso Dorothee Oberlinger will also return. Together with her Ensemble 1700 and soprano Bruno de Sá, she will present one of the Stiftungs Concerts in the historic Aula of the University on May 22. Prior to this, she will appear as a soloist in one of the free Lunch Concerts at St. Johannis Church.

At the University Church of St. Nikolai, recorder player Erik Bosgraaf and the ensemble filoBarocco will explore the influence of Polish folk music on Georg Philipp Telemann's richly layered oeuvre. And at the University Aula, audiences will welcome back a former Artistic Director of the Festival: harpsichordist Laurence Cummings will appear together with flautist Rachel Brown in the last of the Stiftungs Concerts; a series which opens with a historic concert program from 1865 performed by Shunske Sato and Shuann Chai.

…and in the Region

Managing Artistic Director Jochen Schäfsmeier is particularly committed to bringing early music to the wider region. Accordingly, the Festival will once again be represented in 2026 with seven concerts throughout the Göttingen region:

The twelve-member European Hanse-Ensemble, including gambist Hille Perl, will transport audiences at the Welfenschloss in Hann. Münden back to the era of the Thirty Years’ War. In Friedland, the vocal ensemble Tempera Mente will entice listeners with sacred early Baroque vocal music on Pentecost Monday. In Einbeck, audiences can look forward to an opera in pocket format: the ensemble Il Sassone has arranged arias and instrumental pieces from Handel’s operas for a small ensemble and will perform them at the PS.SPEICHER. In Hardegsen, the G.A.P. Ensemble will engage in a musical dialogue between Handel and Johann Sebastian Bach. Meanwhile, residents of Landolfshausen can look forward to a concert featuring the prizewinners of the göttingen handel competition in the unique “Music and Space” format. Additional regional concerts will be held in Osterode and Duderstadt.

Special Formats

The International Handel Festival Göttingen features a variety of unconventional concert formats that transcend the boundaries of early music. These offerings provide an appealing program for individuals who may not yet have discovered the Festival. At Handel jazzt, for example, Kassel-based saxophonist Ulli Orth collaborates with lutenist Andreas Düker. At the Sunrise Concert, guitarist Carlotta Dalia will welcome the rising sun at 5 am on Pentecost Monday. And at Readings, Wine, and Music, actress Andrea Strube and Finnish accordionist Heli Siekkinen will pair tales from One Thousand and One Nights with wine and music.

With Igor Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale, alongside a cantata by Matthias Weckmann and enhanced by video projections by Folkert Uhde, the Festival boldly ventures into the music of the twentieth century (May 17 and 20). On the mobile stage, Rolling George, the Porter Percussion Duo will travel through Göttingen and the surrounding region this year. Highlights of the extensive children's program Handel 4 Kids include a Playmobil performance, a Children's Day with a creative writing competition, and a family-friendly version of the Festival Opera.

Tickets for Selected Events Already Available

Tickets for the Festival Opera Deidamia, the oratorio Messiah, and the Gala Concert are already available, as are tickets for the opening concert with Julia Lezhneva, a staged reading with Götz Lautenbach at Forum Wissen, and a lecture series with concert educator Thomas Sander, which will introduce audiences to this year’s Festival.

Public advance ticket sales for all events begin on February 13. Tickets will then be available online at www.hndl.de and at the following advance sales outlets in Göttingen:

Tourist-Information, Markt 8

Deutsches Theater Göttingen, Theaterplatz 11

as well as nationwide at all public Eventim advance sales outlets.