Solala — The A-cappella Festival

Solingen, the A-cappella City

Solingen — known as the City of Blades for its traditional knife and blade industry — has built a second cultural nickname over the last decade: A-cappella City. The Solala Festival, curated by the Solala team since the mid-2010s, is the region's unique format for purely vocal music in a competition setting. The venue is the Pina-Bausch-Saal in the Theater und Konzerthaus Solingen — named after the famous choreographer, who was born in Solingen and shaped the German dance world until her death.

Concept — Six Voices, Six Stories, One Golden Blade

Six acts compete against each other, each presenting their own set, and the audience votes. The winning act receives the „Goldene Klinge“ (Golden Blade) — a symbol that connects the City of Blades tradition with the a-cappella format. The musical spectrum is broad: Barbershop, Comedy, Jazz, Classical, Pop/Rock, Folk — from purist vocal harmony to beat-driven arrangements with vocal percussion.

Line-up 2026 — Six Acts from Europe

This year's line-up brings together six international groups:

• Ardú (Dublin, Ireland) — Previous year's winner of the „Goldene Klinge“, known for Irish-folkloric vocal harmony
• Avopa (Aarhus, Denmark) — Danish a-cappella school, broad spectrum between pop and composition
• Elsa K. — Solo artist using loop technology
• Free Vocals — Pop/Jazz ensemble
• VocaYou — Young pop a-cappella group
• Zippless — Pop-rock a-cappella sextet

Schedule on February 28, 2026

The competition evening begins with doors opening at 5:00 PM, show start at 6:00 PM. Each act gets its own time slot, with moderation, breaks, and audience voting via app in between. The winning act is announced after the last performance — the emotional moments of the announcement are a Solala tradition.

Tickets, Stream, and the Voting App

Hall seats regularly sell out, and the audience grows year by year — especially from the Bergisches Land, Cologne, Düsseldorf, the Lower Rhine, and the Ruhr area, plus a-cappella travelers from Northern Germany, Switzerland, and the Netherlands. For those who cannot attend live, there is a live stream for €10 — an inclusive gesture typical of Solala. The audience voting is done via a dedicated app, allowing both hall guests and stream viewers to participate equally.

Theater und Konzerthaus Solingen

The Theater und Konzerthaus Solingen at Konrad-Adenauer-Straße 71 is the cultural heart of the City of Blades — ballet guest performances, symphony concerts, theater productions, concert programs. The Pina-Bausch-Saal is the main hall with professional acoustics and stage technology — made for a format like Solala.

Solingen — Bergisches Land

Solingen is located in the Bergisches Land east of Düsseldorf, with around 160,000 inhabitants, it is the City of Blades with global significance. Those arriving for Solala with time to spare can combine their visit with the Deutsches Klingenmuseum (German Blade Museum), the Müngstener Brücke (Müngsten Bridge) (Germany's highest railway bridge), Schloss Burg, or the nearby Wupper region with Wuppertal and Remscheid.