Altmark Festspiele

A Festival, an Entire Region

The Altmark Festspiele is not a festival you tick off in a weekend. It spans almost four months through summer and autumn — from May 16 to September 5, 2026 — and uses the entire Altmark region as its backdrop. 18 venues, spread across the districts of Stendal and Altmarkkreis Salzwedel, connect industrial architecture, monastery churches, castles, and manor houses into a vast network of cultural pathways. Classical music meets jazz, international soloists meet regional ensembles, romantic piano meets the Regensburg Cathedral Choir.

Steel, Straw, and Symphony

What makes the Altmark Festspiele special is its love for contrasts. Since 2024, the opening weekend has taken place in the Alstom locomotive hall in Stendal — an actively used industrial hall where trains are serviced and whose acoustics are, according to artistic director Reinhard Seehafer, “a small sensation.” A few weeks later, the audience sits in Jerichow Monastery, in St. Mary's Church Salzwedel, or in the Katharinenkirche Music Forum in Stendal. “Culture in special locations” is therefore not an advertising slogan, but the program itself.

The Motto 2026: Recognizing Happiness

Reinhard Seehafer, artistic director and composer, has placed the 2026 festival under the motto “Recognizing Happiness” — an invitation to consciously perceive the small and large moments of happiness that often go unnoticed in everyday life. The program ranges from Liszt piano evenings and baroque vocal music to jazz crossover projects. 420 artists from 21 nations are involved, including internationally acclaimed pianists such as Hans H. Suh (South Korea) and Keita Chida (Japan), as well as the Regensburger Domspatzen choir.

Rooted in the State of Saxony-Anhalt

The Altmark is a distinct cultural region in the north of the state of Saxony-Anhalt — flat, sparsely populated, characterized by Brick Gothic architecture and Hanseatic cities like Stendal, Tangermünde, and Salzwedel. The festival brings an international level to this landscape without smoothing out its unique character. The districts of Altmarkkreis Salzwedel and Stendal are the patrons, and Michael Pohl is the commercial director. The festival is considered one of the defining cultural events in the state.