Burg Open Air Querfurt — Project Pitchfork & Friends

A Sleeping Castle Awakens

Querfurt Castle is seven times the size of Wartburg Castle and is one of the oldest and largest preserved defensive structures in Central Germany. Nevertheless, little musical activity has taken place on the castle grounds in recent years — until Peter Spilles, singer and leader of Project Pitchfork, fulfilled a long-cherished dream: his own open-air event in the castle courtyard, curated to his taste, featuring acts from the electronic dark, goth, and EBM scene.

The Festival

Burg Open Air Querfurt is a one-day festival on July 11, 2026, which Project Pitchfork is launching as a curatorial project for its premiere. Instead of a tour with 90-minute sets in clubs, the band is taking over an entire castle, inviting a few guests from the scene, and playing under the open sky amidst walls and towers from the 10th century. Performing: Solar Fake, a synth-pop project with Sven Friedrich on vocals, and Rue Oberkampf, the Franco-German cold wave duo around Marie Möör.

The Idea Behind It

Spilles put it this way beforehand: the castle has "awakened from its musical Sleeping Beauty slumber." The festival sees itself as a declaration of love for the castle, for the scene, and for the town of Querfurt in the Saalekreis district — a place that, along with the neighboring Burgenlandkreis, belongs to the most densely populated castle regions of Saxony-Anhalt. A one-day format, a curated lineup, a historic backdrop: a concept with enough potential to become a tradition, provided the premiere is successful.

Saxony-Anhalt Context

Querfurt is located in the Saalekreis district, about half an hour from Halle (Saale). The state of Saxony-Anhalt here combines medieval substance with young open-air formats — from Walpurgisnacht in the Harz Mountains to Rockharz in Ballenstedt to this new dark electro format at the castle. Anyone who has followed Project Pitchfork for decades knows about the band's understanding of staging: light, fog, atmosphere — a medieval castle complex is the natural stage for this.