EUROPE: Pianist's pick of the top 10 best music festivals and workshops to attend this summer


15 June 2018
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By Ellie Palmer
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4x3-lofoten-69703.jpg Lofoten
We've picked out the top 10 festivals and workshops for you to attend around Europe over the next 3 months.

With many around the world well into the summer season already, a lot of us will be attending festivals, events, concerts, and workshops. For those of you based in and around Europe, we've compiled a list of 10 music festivals and workshops for you to attend over this summer! With locations ranging from France to Norway, you're sure to find an event near you. Check out this list below.

 

1. Trasimeno Music Festival

Lake Trasimeno, Italy

June 29 - July 5

It's a busy week for founder Angela Hewitt, playing three Mozart concertos, both books of the Well-Tempered Clavier and the 'Waldstein' Sonata in this sleepy Umbrian town overlooking Lake Trasimeno.
 
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2. Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival & Masterclasses

Northern Germany

June 30 - August 26

Local Boy Robert Schumann and Leonard Bernstein, in his centenary year, headline this North German festival. Schumann features in recitals by Rafal Blechacz, Janina Fialkowska and Sir András Schiff, while Jan Lisecki plays the Concerto. The masterclasses are held at the Musik-hochschule Lübeck. Each course concludes with concerts given by the participants. For advanced students and young professionals. Piano masterclasses this year given by Janina Fialkowska, Nils Mӧnkemeyer and Stefan Vladar.

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3. Lofoten Piano Festival

Lofoten Islands, Norway

July 9 - 15

French pianist Bertrand Chamayou is the director for this week of concerts set around an Arctic Circle archipelago. He is joined by Yulianna Avdeeva, Lise de la Salle and Francesco Piemontesi in the opening concert; all four pianists come together later in the week with the Korean pianist Ah Ruem Ahn for an unusual collective account of Dvořák's Slavonic Dances Op 46.

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4. Roque D'Antheron

Southern France

July 20 - August 18

The piano festival to end them all! Situated in a village north of Aix-en-Provence, there will be as many as four concerts a day for a month, nearly all featuring either one of the world's greatest pianists or an exciting new talent. Bertrand Chamayou, Kotaro Fukuma, Pavel Kolesnikov, and Marc-André Hamelin are just a handful of huge names that will grace this festival.

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5. Verbier Festival

Canton of Valais, Switzerland

July 21 - August 6

Yuja Wang is a favourite return guest at this Swiss festival with altitude and attitude. George Li appears (on the opening night) for the second year running. See him featured here as one of our 4 pianists to look out for over the next 12 months. Another Moscow Competition winner and Pianist cover star - Lucas Debargue - also features for the second year running. There are also recitals by Radu Lupu, Grigory Sokolov and Evgeny Kissin.

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6. Saint Laurent Piano Holiday

Saint Laurent, France

July 22 - 28

A new piano course, located on 27 hectares of land, with views of the countryside and the Pyrenees. Piano is the focus, but the aim is for participants to enjoy the area, its cuisine and wine. Graham Fitch, who features heavily in our Online Piano Lessons, is the tutor. Suitable for pianists of intermediate to advanced level. There's a maximum of 10 participants so book you place quick!

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7. Incontri in Terra di Siena

Siena, Italy

July 28 - August 4

This beautiful festival located in Siena features unique chamber programmes curated by Alessio Bax in Tuscan towns and villages. Leif Ove Andsnes drops by to play Nielsen and Sibelius; there's a Schubertiade with Ian Bostridge; and Bax himself accompanies Daishin Kashimoto (leader of the Berlin Philharmonic) in Busoni's Second Violin Sonata.

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8. Olso Chamber Music Festival

Oslo, Norway

August 17 - 26

Violinist Arve Tellefsen invites local and international artists including Håvard Gimse, Alexander Longquich and Marina Kan Selvik.

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9. Grafenegg

The Krems-Land district, Austria

August 17 - September 9

Hélène Grimaud plays the Fourth Concerto of Beethoven on the opening weekend of this grandly cast festival set in the grounds of a picture-postcard Schloss. Festival founder-director Rudolf Buchbinder is the soloist in Beethoven's Third and the Grieg.

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10. New Ross Piano Festival

County Wexford, Ireland

September 26 - 30

Bookings open 2nd July

Artistic Director Finghin Collins brings international pianists to County Wexford, in the piano-friendly acoustic of St. Mary's Church, New Ross. This year's line up includes the exceptional Alexandra Dariescu and Anne-Marie McDermott, as well as Artistic Director Finghin Collins himself.

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