Beethovenfest Bonn 2006:
31^st August until 1^st October 2006

"Rossiya" - the Russian name of the country in Latin characters - is the motto of the Beethovenfest Bonn 2006 which will be held under the aegis of the Minister President of the Land of North Rhine-Westphalia, Dr. Jürgen Rüttgers. From 31^st August until 1^st October, 60 concerts and opera performances as well as the rich supporting programme will focus on the cultural region of Russia. Since 2004 the Beethovenfest has been committed to a cross-national framework with an annually changing core theme, which has been Bohemia-Moravia in 2004 and France in 2005. Beethoven himself has never been to Russia, yet his work was much noticed and appreciated in Russia: Count Razumovsky commissioned to him the "Russian string quartets" op. 59, and thanks to Prince Galitsin, who was dedicated the string quartets op. 127, 130 and 132, the Missa solemnis, described by Beethoven himself as his most important work, was for the first time performed as a whole in St. Petersburg in 1824.

The centenary of Dmitri Shostakovitch offers the much-appreciated occasion to perform in the context of the festival excerpts from his oeuvre as well as works by other Russian composers, such as Mussorgsky, Prokofiev, Rachmaninov, Rubinstein, Skriabin, Stravinsky, Tchaikovsky and even Taneyev and Tarnopolski. The invitation of numerous Russian artists also contributes to the Russian motto of the Bethovenfest Bonn: Among others, the pianists Lilya Zilberstein and Arcadi Volodos, the Russian National Orchestra with Mikhail Pletnev, Elena Bashkirova, the Brodsky Quartet, the Moscow Art Trio, Efim Jourist, the Rastrelli Cello Quartet and Maxim Vengerov will come to Bonn.

Further outstanding ensembles and artists at the Beethovenfest Bonn 2006 will be the Philadelphia Orchestra under the direction of its chief conductor Christoph Eschenbach, Riccardo Chailly with the Gewandhaus Orchestra Leipzig and the Koninklijk Concertgebouworkest Amsterdam under the direction of Jukka-Pekka Saraste.

The anniversaries of Mozart and Schumann will also be remembered at the Beethovenfest Bonn: Mozart’s early opera Il Rè pastore (The Shepherd King) will be performed in a co-producion with the Salzburger Festspiele and the Musikfest Bremen, and a five-piece cycle will be brought to the stage in memory of Robert Schumann.

There are 38,000 tickets going on sale for the 60 events of the Beethovenfest Bonn 2006 which will be held at 22 venues in Bonn and its surroundings. Several picturesque historical venues of the Bonn region are turned into concert halls. First-time venues are the Haus der Geschichte, the Hotel Königshof, the KfW Bank branch office in Bonn-Mehlem and St. Evergislus church in Bornheim. A large number of concerts will be broadcasted by Westdeutscher Rundfunk as well as Deutschlandfunk/DeutschlandRadio Kultur and by Deutsche Welle.