Stage of the Baltic

For three weeks each year, from September to October, the Usedomer Musikfestival presents the stars and treasures of music from the Baltic Sea region. Annually rotating country focuses bring the full musical diversity of Northern Europe to the stage. At the unique concert venues across the island of Usedom, the Usedomer Musikfestival makes the incomparable atmosphere of a cosmopolitan two-nation island — facing the states of the Baltic Sea — come alive. The traditional concert series stages the musical riches of the lands and regions linked by the sea in atmospheric churches, scenically located castles, the magnificent buildings of the Imperial Spa towns, and in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern's largest industrial heritage site at Peenemünde. "The Usedomer Musikfestival makes not only the island, but an entire region resound. Indeed, the cultural island of Usedom is part of a great family — a family which the Baltic Sea does not divide, but unites," former German Federal Chancellor Dr Angela Merkel said on the occasion of the festival's 25th anniversary celebrations.

A Stage for the Baltic Region

The history of this concert series began in 1994. The original aim was to show guests how beautiful the island of Usedom can be in September, after the end of the school holidays. From the very start, the festival's Artistic Director Thomas Hummel won over Kurt Masur — Gewandhauskapellmeister in Leipzig and Music Director of the New York Philharmonic — as patron. Masur in turn established a connection with the New York foundation Young Concert Artists. From there, prizewinners of the eponymous international competition came to the shores of the Pomeranian Bay. A small transatlantic bridge that still stands today.

Since 1999 the Usedomer Musikfestival has established itself as the "Stage of the Baltic": each year, one country of the Baltic Sea region is exclusively at the heart of the programme — with its music and its musicians. Ten countries belong to the Baltic region: Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Russia and Finland. They include large countries and small ones, countries with famous musicians and countries that long stood in the shadow of others' fame. At the Usedomer Musikfestival, each of these countries receives the same space and the same attention.

This commitment to bridging cultures has been recognised by numerous prizes: in 2006 with the Tryton Cultural Prize of the city of Świnoujście; in 2012 the festival and the multinational Baltic Sea Philharmonic, founded on its initiative, were honoured as a "Selected Place – In the Land of Ideas"; in 2015 the orchestra received the European Cultural Prize as ambassador of the Baltic Sea region; and from 2015 to 2018 the Usedomer Musikfestival held the EFFE Quality Label of the European Union for its "artistic and societal commitment with an international and global perspective."

With three weeks of programming, the Usedomer Musikfestival is one of the largest themed music festivals in the world, says Festival Director Thomas Hummel: "Themed festivals normally last only four to seven days, while long-format festivals usually do not commit to any thematic focus. The Usedomer Musikfestival, which is at home both in Poland and in Germany, is a rarity in this regard."

The Peenemünde Concerts

The Peenemünde Concerts are also unique in the German festival landscape. Together with the Historisch-Technisches Museum and Norddeutscher Rundfunk, the Usedomer Musikfestival inaugurated the turbine hall of the Peenemünde Power Station as a concert venue in 2002. Where rockets were once developed and tested, applause now thunders. During the "Third Reich", the army and air force experimental sites at Peenemünde worked on the development of "secret weapons" — among them the Aggregat 4 ("V2"), the world's first large-scale rocket. It brought death to many thousands of people, yet it was also the first object successfully launched into outer space. Today, with the museum in the power station, cultural events, special exhibitions, project days, workshops and work camps, Peenemünde is a place of international encounter and peace education.

Under the direction of Mstislav Rostropovich and with more than 250 musicians, Benjamin Britten's War Requiem resounded in the turbine hall of the former power station. Since then, conductors of world rank have been engaged. Kurt Masur, named honorary patron of the Usedomer Musikfestival in 2012, gave three of his last concerts here and led two international masterclasses for young conductors. Krzysztof Penderecki, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Alan Gilbert, Andris Nelsons, Christoph Eschenbach, Jan Lisiecki, Gidon Kremer, Kurt Masur † and Neeme Järvi, Paavo Järvi and Kristjan Järvi and many more have all consolidated the high musical standards of the Peenemünde Concerts.

A Commitment to Music Education

Since 2005 a true gem of the island has enriched the festival: Schloss Stolpe, seat of the noble von Schwerin family, in the very south by the Stettin Lagoon. Together with the Stolper Schlossverein, Norddeutscher Rundfunk and the Tonkünstlerverband Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, the Usedomer Musikfestival founded the Baltic Sea Music Forum. Lithuanian-born cellist David Geringas gathers exceptionally gifted master students around him every year and presents the results of their joint work in a concert.

In 2008 the Usedomer Musikfestival took a major step out into the wider world: it founded the Baltic Sea Philharmonic. Estonian-born conductor Kristjan Järvi gathered outstanding young musicians from all ten Baltic countries and, with his energy, his musicality, and his passion for the culture around the "Mediterranean of the North", formed an innovative new ensemble whose hallmark is concerts performed entirely from memory. From Peenemünde, the orchestra has since conquered all of Europe and has become an ambassador of Usedom in the world's concert halls.

Beyond the three-week main festival in September and October, the Usedomer Musikfestival also encompasses the Usedom Literary Days in spring and the nationwide International Days of Jewish Music.

The Usedomer Musikfestival now attracts up to fourteen thousand guests per year from Germany and abroad, and — also through radio broadcasts of its concerts — radiates out into the world.