Baroque Splendor with Timpani and Trumpets — Rastatt Palace

Concert Season Kick-off in the Hall of Ancestors

The concert "Baroque Splendor with Timpani and Trumpets" opens the 2026 concert season at Rastatt Residential Palace. The venue is the renowned Hall of Ancestors – a festive hall built in the late Baroque period, featuring a rich ceiling fresco, gilded stucco work, and acoustics that make it one of the most ideal concert spaces in Southern Germany. The concert season is organized by the State Palaces and Gardens of Baden-Württemberg, which manage the palace as a cultural venue and museum.

The Karlsruhe Baroque Ensemble

The performing ensemble is the Karlsruhe Baroque Ensemble, conducted by Bastian Hellinger. The ensemble specializes in historically informed performance practice – an approach that presents Baroque music as it sounded during its time. Performed on historically authentic instruments:

• Natural trumpet without valves, as in Bach's time
• Baroque timpani
• Harpsichord as a continuo instrument
• Baroque violins with gut strings and baroque bow
• Traverso (baroque wooden flute)

The sound differs fundamentally from modern orchestras: warmer, more transparent, with clearer lines and a volume that fills the hall rather than overwhelming it.

Works by Bach and Handel

The program includes works by the two great Baroque composers Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel. Both represent the pinnacle of Baroque musical culture in Germany: Bach with his incomparable contrapuntal works, Handel with his concert and vocal music influenced by Italian opera. The natural trumpet and timpani provide the festive accents, as heard in Baroque court concerts.

Concert Season 2026 — The Rest of the Program

"Baroque Splendor" is just the beginning. The 2026 season at Rastatt Palace also includes:

• July 1–5, 2026 — Open-Air Summer with Anastacia, Saltatio Mortis, Wincent Weiss, Marillion, and The Black Crowes in the palace courtyard
• July 11, 2026 — Melodic Wine Festival in the palace gardens, 4 PM–12 AM (electronic music, regional wines, Silent Disco from 10 PM)
• September 25–26, 2026 — Resonant Residence with the Rastatt Vocal Ensemble and Les Favorites (works by Fanny Hensel, Brahms, Schumann)

Rastatt — The Palace Preceding Karlsruhe

Rastatt Residential Palace (Rastatt District, State of Baden-Württemberg) was built in the late 17th century by Margrave Ludwig Wilhelm of Baden-Baden ("Türkenlouis") as a Baroque residence. It is considered one of the oldest preserved Baroque residential palaces north of the Alps – a model for Versailles Palace in Germany. The complex, now owned by the state of Baden-Württemberg, serves as a museum, event venue, and site for historical research.