Karlsruhe klingt — music to go

music to go — the concept

"Karlsruhe klingt — music to go" is a biennial city music festival, organised by the Karlsruhe University of Music in cooperation with KME Citymarketing. The concept is clear: Classical music out of the concert hall and into the city. Students and teachers from the university will perform at around eleven city centre locations with solo performances and ensemble sets — and you, the audience, stroll among them.

Eleven locations, one day

The locations are deliberately spread out:

• Churches — Classical chamber concert in the Stadtkirche (City Church), organ music in the St. Stephan Church
• Badische Landesbibliothek — Reading room as an unusual concert stage
• Shops and shopping centres — String quartet in a bookshop, jazz combo in a fashion store
• Public squares — Marktplatz, Friedrichsplatz, Stephanplatz
• Tram stops — Acoustic sets at busy stops
• Special performances — Roving samba-batucada group moving through the city

Genre diversity

The programme reflects the full spectrum of the Karlsruhe University of Music:

• Chamber music — String quartet, piano trio, wind ensemble
• Big Band Jazz — Classics from the university big band
• Brazilian rhythms — Bossa Nova, Samba, Choro (a focus in 2024 following the university's "I Festival Alemanha Brasil")
• Opera and Lied — Small opera groups performing arias in unusual locations
• Jazz ensembles — Small combos in shops
• Marching percussion — Samba Batucada as a roving group

How to experience the day

Practicalities: Head to the city centre, grab the programme (print on the day or online beforehand), start at the Marktplatz to hear a string quartet. Then move on to the Stadtkirche for organ music. Stroll to a bookshop for a jazz trio. Take a lunch break in a café on Erbprinzenstraße. In the afternoon, continue to the Badische Landesbibliothek, then be swept along by the roving samba-batucada group currently parading through Kaiserstraße. End the day at Stephanplatz with a grand big band set.

Organisers — University + Citymarketing

The Karlsruhe University of Music (HfM) is one of Germany's most renowned music universities — with specialisms in composition, piano, string instruments, vocals, early music, jazz, pop, and improvisation. With "music to go", it opens itself up to the city: Instead of just playing in the Wolfgang-Rihm-Forum at the palace, they bring students out into the city centre. KME Citymarketing GmbH, as a partner, provides the locations, organises signage, and handles the surrounding logistics.

Karlsruhe — Fan City with a Musical DNA

The city of Karlsruhe (AGS 08212, district-free) has around 310,000 inhabitants and, with its fan-shaped layout radiating from the palace, is one of Germany's most distinctive city foundations. It is home to the Federal Court of Justice and the Federal Constitutional Court, the KIT (Karlsruhe Institute of Technology), and the ZKM (Center for Art and Media). It boasts a rich musical landscape with the Badische Staatskapelle, State Theatre, University of Music, and a vibrant jazz scene. "music to go" brings this musical landscape directly into everyday life.

Why attend

Anyone who has previously considered classical music to be "something for others" will find the most accessible entry point here: Free admission, flexible, without the formality of a concert hall. You can leave after three minutes if something doesn't appeal to you — or stay for an hour. For Karlsruhe lovers: an extraordinary perspective on the city, as you visit places you wouldn't normally frequent (a tram stop as a stage, a bookshop as a concert hall).