Name: SPAM – Spandau makes Old Music 2026
Start: 2026-02-26T00:00:00+00:00
End: 2026-03-01T00:00:00+00:00
Location: Zitadelle Spandau

SPAM

About SPAM

SPAM – Spandau macht Alte Musik is Berlin's newest festival for historically informed performance practice and has become a firm fixture in the Berlin classical music calendar since its premiere in 2023. Artistic directors: viol player Heidi Gröger and musicologist Bernhard Schrammek. Venues are the Spandau Citadel of the Renaissance and the historic Nikolaikirche. The FAZ already certified the festival as world-class in its first edition. In 2026, the festival will run as a compact "SPAM light" format over a long weekend, with the thematic focus "Berlin Chamber Music" – works from churches, courts, and salons of the Prussian metropolis of the 17th and 18th centuries.

Dates 26 Feb — 01 Mar 2026

Venue Berlin (11000)

Prices 15.00€ — 45.00€

Status Confirmed

Edition 2026

SPAM — edition 2026

Tickets →

SPAM light 2026 runs from February 26 to March 1, 2026, at the Spandau Citadel under the motto "Berlin Chamber Music." Four days of the festival focusing on works from the 17th and 18th centuries from churches, courts, and salons of the Prussian metropolis. Participants include Marie Luise Werneburg (soprano) and Capella de la Torre conducted by Katharina Bäuml.

The 2026 edition foregoes the full two-week festival length of the first two editions and concentrates as "SPAM light" on an extended weekend with four intensive days of programming. The thematic anchor: the Berlin chamber music tradition of the 17th and 18th centuries. Works by Johann Sebastian Bach, Carl Heinrich Graun, and Johann Gottlieb Janitsch are featured alongside repertoire from the Renaissance (John Dowland on the 400th anniversary of his death, Giulio Caccini's Florentine opera "La Liberazione di Ruggiero").

The festival opens with a concert by soprano Marie Luise Werneburg, one of the most sought-after voices in historically informed performance practice in Germany. The dramatic highlight is "La Liberazione" by Capella de la Torre under Katharina Bäuml. Workshops on musical rhetoric and guided tours of the citadel complement the musical program.

Highlights SPAM 2026

Four days of early music in the Spandau Citadel of the Renaissance
Motto "Berlin Chamber Music" – Works from Frederick's Court Chapel
Marie Luise Werneburg, Capella de la Torre, Katharina Bäuml
Dowland Commemoration Concert (400th death anniversary)
Bach "Musical Offering" BWV 1079
Early Baroque Florentine Opera by Caccini

Programme SPAM 2026

Thursday, February 26, 2026 – Opening

Marie Luise Werneburg (Soprano) – Works by J.S. Bach, C.H. Graun, J.G. Janitsch
Berlin Chamber Music of the Frederick Era
Spandau Citadel, Gothic Hall

Friday, February 27, 2026 – Dowland Evening

Program for the 400th anniversary of John Dowland's death
Lute music and vocal works from Elizabethan England

Saturday, February 28, 2026 – Bach

"The Musical Offering" by Johann Sebastian Bach
BWV 1079 performed in its entirety

Sunday, March 1, 2026 – Climax

Capella de la Torre conducted by Katharina Bäuml
Giulio Caccini: "La Liberazione di Ruggiero dall'isola d'Alcina" (1625)
Early Baroque Florentine Opera

Accompanying Program

Talk concerts, guided tours of the Renaissance Citadel.

Prices SPAM 2026

Single concerts approx. €25–€45 (concessions €15–€25). Festival passes for multiple concerts available. Advance sales via Spandau Citadel and usual Berlin ticket agencies.

Practical information

Practical information — SPAM

Getting There

U-Bahn U7 'Zitadelle', 5 minutes walk. By car: Am Juliusturm 64, 13599 Berlin-Haselhorst. Parking available at the entrance.

Tickets

Advance sales via Zitadelle Spandau (zitadelle-berlin.de), Berlin ticket agencies, and Eventim. Concert tickets approx. €25–€45, concessions €15–€25. Festival passes for multiple concerts available.

Organizer

Kulturhaus Spandau with artistic direction by Heidi Gröger and Bernhard Schrammek. Supported by, among others, the Spandau District Office and the Senate Department for Culture and Societal Cohesion.

A Festival in the Renaissance Fortress

The 16th-century Spandau Citadel is one of the best-preserved Renaissance fortresses in Europe. With its massive bastions, the Julius Tower, and the Palas, it offers an acoustically and atmospherically special backdrop for historical music. The SPAM festival deliberately uses these spaces: concerts in the Gothic Hall, in the Italian Courtyard complex, and in the nearby Nikolaikirche. The walls, the Renaissance architecture, the interplay of warmth and reverberation – all of this becomes part of the musical experience.

Artistic Direction with Profile

Heidi Gröger is among the leading German viol players and a member of numerous early music ensembles. Bernhard Schrammek is a musicologist, church musician, and one of Berlin's most distinguished voices for historically informed performance practice. Both curate the festival with the aim not only of programming repertoire classics but also of highlighting Berlin's early music specialties – works from the Bach era, from the court chapel of Frederick II, and from the circle around Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach and Johann Friedrich Reichardt.

World-Class Ensembles

SPAM brings ensembles such as Lautten Compagney, Capella de la Torre, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, as well as international guests to the stage. The FAZ review after the premiere in 2023 spoke of a festival "on par with the major early music festivals in Europe." Despite its young age, SPAM has secured a permanent place in the Berlin classical music calendar.

2026: "SPAM light" with a Berlin Focus

The 2026 edition runs as a compact "SPAM light" format from February 26 to March 1, 2026. Theme: "Berlin Chamber Music." Program highlights: Opening concert with Marie Luise Werneburg (soprano) featuring works by Bach, Graun, and Janitsch; a Dowland evening to mark the 400th anniversary of the death of lutenist and composer John Dowland; Bach's "Musical Offering"; Caccini's "La Liberazione" with Capella de la Torre conducted by Katharina Bäuml. Accompanying talks and guided tours of the citadel.