Wernigerode Castle Festival

Fairytale Castle and Symphony

Anyone who sees Wernigerode Castle on a postcard might first think of Disney: Neo-Gothic towers, yellow sandstone facade, high above the half-timbered town in the northeastern Harz Mountains. In fact, the castle is one of the most famous show sites in Saxony-Anhalt — and has been the venue for the Wernigerode Castle Festival since 1996. The Wernigerode Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra, conducted by GMD Christian Fitzner, fills the castle, the Liebfrauen Concert Hall, and the Bürgerpark with an ambitious classical program for a whole month in August.

Strolling Through the Castle

The hallmark of the festival is the promenade concerts: Instead of sitting in a rigid concert hall, you, as part of the audience, move through different rooms of the castle, hearing different musical contributions in each room, combined with historical narratives about the castle's history. It's a format that intertwines music, architecture, and art history — and is rarely experienced in this form in Germany.

The 2026 Program

The 30th edition of the festival opens on August 1, 2026, with the traditional FIRST NIGHT — works by Wagner, Bizet, and Schubert with the Philharmonic Chamber Orchestra under Christian Fitzner. This will be followed by opera galas, a film music evening with the Harz Symphony Orchestra, chamber concerts, and children's concerts (“Juri hunts the music ghost,” “We build an orchestra”). The closing event is the LAST NIGHT with the British cellist Natalie Clein as soloist.

In the Harz, in the Harz District

Wernigerode is the capital of the Harz district in the state of Saxony-Anhalt — the gateway to the Brocken, the terminus of the Harz Narrow Gauge Railway, and one of Germany's most beautiful half-timbered towns. The Castle Festival is the city's cultural flagship in the summer and attracts thousands of classical music lovers from Germany, the Netherlands, and Scandinavia every year.