Jochen Schäfsmeier Remains Managing Director through the End of 2028

The International Handel Festival Göttingen has extended the contract of its Managing Director, Jochen Schäfsmeier, by a further three years, through December 31, 2028. The decision was reached in January 2026 by mutual agreement between the Supervisory Board of the Festival GmbH and Schäfsmeier.

Jochen Schäfsmeier has been at the helm of the Göttingen International Handel Festival together with conductor and Artistic Director George Petrou since 2021. During this time, the profile of the more than one-hundred-year-old Festival has been consistently developed and sharpened on an international level. Prior to this, the clarinettist and cultural manager served as Managing Director of Concerto Köln from 2005 to 2020, successfully establishing the renowned ensemble internationally, realizing reference recordings with leading labels, and initiating innovative projects. These included the academic-artistic project Wagner-Lesarten — the research and performance of a historically informed “Ring of the Nibelung” — in collaboration with Kent Nagano, Concerto Köln, and the Kunststiftung NRW.

Deputy Chair of the Supervisory Board Prof. Dr. Panja Mücke emphasizes the significance of the contract extension:

“Jochen Schäfsmeier assumed leadership of the Festival in the midst of the pandemic and, together with George Petrou, guided it through a period of profound uncertainty within the international cultural sector. During this time, the Festival’s artistic profile was not only preserved but also further developed. Today’s program combines international reach with a sustainable anchoring in Göttingen’s civic life.”

Jochen Schäfsmeier states:

“The connection between international orientation and regional roots characterizes both the Festival and the city of Göttingen. Concerts featuring top-tier artists with international participation make an important contribution to social exchange and global-mindedness. At the same time, we understand the further development of the Festival program in the coming years as a response to increasingly limited funding resources. Against this backdrop, our goal is to make the relevance of Handel’s work in the twenty-first century visible while at the same time developing sustainable formats for a broad audience.”

The International Handel Festival Göttingen is among the oldest music festivals in the world and has taken place annually since 1920. Its origins lie in Oskar Hagen’s performance of George Frideric Handel’s opera Rodelinde, which marked the beginning of the so-called Göttingen Handel Renaissance. The next edition of the Festival will take place from May 14 to 25, 2026, in Göttingen and southern Lower Saxony. The Festival motto and the complete program will be presented on February 4.