Events in Baden-Württemberg on the weekend of November 7 and 8, 2026: markets, jazz, film and motor sport. At the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden, Teodor Currentzis opens the La Grande Gare autumn festival on Saturday.
The Festspielhaus stands in the former main station of Baden-Baden. There the autumn festival La Grande Gare begins on Saturday, November 7, 2026, with a concert by Teodor Currentzis. Events in Baden-Württemberg on the weekend of November 7 and 8, 2026: markets, jazz, film and motor sport.
Currentzis and Bach at the Festspielhaus
The La Grande Gare autumn festival opens on Saturday, November 7, with Teodor Currentzis and his Utopia Orchestra, founded in 2022. The program: Stravinsky's “Le Sacre du Printemps” of 1913 and Shostakovich's Violin Concerto No. 1, Op. 77. The soloist is Daniel Lozakovich, one of the most celebrated young violinists of his generation.
On Sunday, November 8, the stage belongs to the Balthasar Neumann Orchestra, which specializes in historically informed performance. On period instruments it plays the six Brandenburg Concertos by Johann Sebastian Bach, a mammoth program that demands the full virtuosity of the ensemble.
With around 2,500 seats, the Festspielhaus is the largest opera and concert house in Germany. It was founded in 1998 in the former main station, which the festival title alludes to. The Baden-Württemberg Stiftung is the patron.
Baden-Baden lies on the A 5 and on the Karlsruhe–Basel ICE line, and a city bus runs from Oos station to the Festspielhaus.
Tickets are sold in advance or at the box office.
Funfairs, markets, jazz and film
The 286th Karlsruher Herbstmess runs on the Messplatz at Durlacher Allee with around 90 rides and stalls, open from 2 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Saturday and from noon on Sunday, with free entry to the grounds. The fair has been held twice a year since 1912, a ride costs 4 to 8 euros, a try at the game stalls 1 to 3 euros, and on Sunday there is face painting. At the Hanns-Martin-Schleyer-Halle in Stuttgart, the finals of the ADAC Supercross Stuttgart are decided on Saturday evening. In the main class SX1, international top riders from the USA, France, Belgium and Germany compete. The races on a track of around 1,200 tons of soil start at about 7 p.m., freestyle riders show their jumps between the heats, and adults pay from about 51 euros.
The Martinimarkt Sillenbuch fills the Kirchheimer Straße in Stuttgart-Sillenbuch on Sunday, November 8, with market stalls and live music. A lantern procession moves through the neighborhood, the Aktionsgemeinschaft Sillenbucher Meile is the host, and the shops are open from noon to 5 p.m. In Esslingen on Sunday, the Esslinger Herbst stretches from the Ritterstraße to the Old Town Hall, with around 80 exhibitors showing crafts and antiques, a flea market on the Blarerplatz and the HEIGES play paradise for families on the Hafenmarkt, and the shops of the city center are open from noon to 5 p.m. The Hüttengaudi in Kirchheim unter Teck turns the Rossmarkt into a village of huts with a gondola bar and a small fireplace. The mulled wine comes from the Kern winery, and it is open Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., with DJ sets on the weekend and free entry.
The Aalener Jazzfest enters its last days at the Stadthalle Aalen and the KUBAA, with fusion jazz, hard bop, funk jazz, soul and world music until Sunday. Around 13,000 visitors attend over the five festival days, and the organizers are the cultural association kunterbunt e.V. together with the city of Aalen. The International Film Festival Mannheim-Heidelberg celebrates its 75th edition: founded in 1952, it discovered the careers of François Truffaut, Rainer Werner Fassbinder and Jim Jarmusch, and it shows around 60 films, many of them world or European premieres.
In the old town of Lahr, the 29th Chrysanthema ends on Sunday under the motto “Colorful Moments of Happiness!” with chrysanthemum installations on the Marktplatz and the Rathausplatz; entry is free. It has taken place every year since 1998. The Plaza Culinaria has existed since 2004 and draws around 30,000 visitors a year, and the Messe Freiburg opens for it on Saturday, November 7, from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and on Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m., with live cooking, workshops, the Plaza Late Night on Saturday evening and a Sunday ticket for 9.80 euros.