Innsbruck’s year of culture 2019

Last updated on 24.01.2019

Innsbruck’s appeal lies in its remarkable location, surrounded by stunning mountains, and its wide-ranging cultural life. The city in the heart of the Alps exerts an extraordinary attraction, with city, culture and nature forging an incomparable whole.

Tyrol Easter Festival
5 to 21 April 2019 – Innsbruck/Hall
The best way to describe the Easter Festival is as a tribute to art. The multi-faceted festival is a place of intellectual and cultural exchange which aims to promote greater tolerance and respect. Themes which change from year to year – in 2019 it’s heimat.welt (homeland.world) – provide insights into other worlds, each theme undertaking a thorough examination of a region’s culture. Different art forms – music, performance, dance, readings, talks and film – all come together in the festival’s varied programme, combining old and new from all eras and cultures. And the venues are just as varied as the programme, with churches, theatres, the university, an old salt warehouse and lots more becoming the stage.
More information: www.osterfestival.at

 Heart of Noise
7 to 9 June 2019 – Innsbruck
Constant, uncompromising and high-quality: this is how the “Heart of Noise” festival will be showcasing itself in its ninth edition. This experimental music and art festival has been transforming the city into a living sound space every year since 2011. Visitors are introduced to current musical culture via a wide range of performance styles: complementary sound installations in public spaces, live dubbing of cinema films and other visual material, and the fusion of media art, music and dance in art performances. This small but rather fine festival, in which the artists are not just a number, sees itself as a “delicatessen for music gourmets”. The Heart of Noise Festival takes the listener to the centre of tones, sounds and noises – the centre of the current avant-garde.
More information: www.heartofnoise.at

Innsbruck International Film Festival (IFFI)
28 May to 2 June 2019 – Innsbruck
Cinematic art versus commercial cinema. The film festival in Innsbruck was founded in 1992 with the idea and declared goal of bringing films from all over the world to Innsbruck. There’s traditionally been something subversive about cinematic art: innovative and ground-breaking, but also enlightening. The IFFI shows mainly independent films with the aim of making the unseen visible. Young writers are promoted who can present their films in this way to an interested audience without having to consider market forces. The screens of the IFFI provide insights into lesser-known worlds. Each year some 65 full-length and short films (feature films and documentaries) from Latin America, Africa, Central Asia and Eastern Europe are shown, films which open up new perspectives, films that move, inspire or just entertain in an ingenious way.
More information: http://iffi.at

World Music Festival
30 May to 2 June 2019 – Innsbruck
The 13th World Music Festival, the world’s largest competition for accordion and harmonica orchestras/ensembles, will be held in Innsbruck in 2019. The event takes place only every three years and attracts the world’s best accordion orchestras and groups to the capital of Tyrol. Several thousand participants and visitors from England, the Netherlands, Denmark, Germany, Switzerland, New Zealand and elsewhere are expected to attend this unique festival of the German Harmonica Association. The festival focusses on music making by orchestras and ensembles with the same or a very different range of instrumentals. In 2019, for the first time, there will also be youth categories for ensembles and in chamber music (3 to 6 accordions).
More information: http://dhv-ev.de

New Orleans Festival
18 to 21 July 2019 – Innsbruck
Once a year as part of the New Orleans Festival, Innsbruck, the city in the mountains, becomes a city in the south of the US. The festival sees a get-together of the stars of the international jazz scene and brings the southern feeling of the city on the Mississippi to the capital of the Alps. When the stars perform their music, imbued with their passion and attitude to life, and the night absorbs the vibrations, Innsbruck moves to the rhythm of the music. For more than twenty years, the festival has been casting its spell on visitors, with blues, jazz, gospel and soul rhythms that one simply cannot resist. The many live concerts turn Innsbruck into a colourful meeting place for local celebrities, stars from New Orleans and music lovers.
More information: www.neworleansfestival.at

Klassik am Berg (Classics on the Mountain)
29 June 2019 – Innsbruck, Patscherkofel
This concert in the heart of the mountains of Tyrol is both extraordinary and unforgettable, drawing music lovers into the high mountain landscape to listen to classical music. On one of the longest days of the summer, the InnStrumenti Orchestra invites you to Klassik am Berg, a very special open air event. The Tyrolean Chamber Orchestra takes culture out of the city of Innsbruck up into the high mountains – in 2019, as in the previous year, to the Patscherkofel. On a temporary stage high above Innsbruck and against the majestic backdrop of the surrounding mountain peaks, outstanding instrumental soloists perform a varied programme of the highest standard. In this very special atmosphere, the concert is conceived to make it easier for families and young people to get into classical music. At the same time, the unique programme concept and high quality of the orchestra also make the evening concert a wonderful experience for those already familiar with classical music. Whether on a folding chair, blanket or standing – this musical experience is second to none.
More information: www.innstrumenti.at

Wetterleuchten
13 & 14 July 2019 – Innsbruck/Nordkette
The Nordkette Wetterleuchten is a festival of a very special kind and can only be experienced in this form in Innsbruck. Wetterleuchten is the only festival in the world to be held at an altitude of 2,000 metres, and there’s nowhere else where you can listen to music, dance and also camp in the mountains. Concerts and DJs provide the soundtrack of this alpine musical experience where you can party till dawn. But if you’re interested, make sure you book soon because the number of visitors is limited to 1,100.
More information: www.wetterleuchten.at

Innsbruck Promenade Concerts
1 to 28 July 2019 – Innsbruck
For the 25th time, the Innsbruck Promenade Concerts, a series of wide-ranging brass band concerts, will be held in the inner courtyard of Innsbruck’s Imperial Palace (Hofburg) and will make for atmospheric summer evenings of the highest standard. Alois Schöpf, the artistic director of the Innsbruck Promenade Concerts, intends to meet the demand for as many areas of wind music as possible, the repertoire ranging from classical to modern interpretations. International military, police and civilian orchestras, along with brass ensembles, brass bands and a big band, are part of the standard repertoire that’s enhanced each year with new programme items. A concept that’s stood the test of time and, for a quarter of a century, has been captivating locals and visitors, aficionados of high culture and lovers of folk music, jazz fans and admirers of brass band artists.
More information: www.promenadenkonzerte.at

Music in the Alps
27 July to 6 August 2019
Music in the Alps is a music festival in the heart of the mountains – Bad Gastein, Salzburg and Innsbruck – that brings together famous artists and talented newcomers from various countries. Under a professional conductor, the students perform in instrumental and vocal classes in several venues in the city and the mountains, in preparation for the grand final concert in Congress Innsbruck.
More information: www.musicinthealps.com

43th Innsbruck Festival of Early Music
16 July to 27 August 2019 – Innsbruck
The 500th anniversary of the death of Emperor Maximilian I, the 350th anniversary of Pietro Antonio Cesti’s death and the tenth edition of the Cesti Competition have given the internationally renowned Innsbruck Festival of Early Music the opportunity to rediscover, celebrate in an appropriate manner and shed new light on the highlights of the past and present. Three extraordinary opera rarities will thrill visitors. The opera “Merope”, composed by Riccardo Broschi for his brother, the famous singer Farinelli, will premiere on 7 August. The second opera, “Ottone, Rè[BB1]  di Germania” by Georg Friedrich Händel, will be the ninth baroque opera to be performed at the festival. Pietro Antonio Cesti, who’s given his name to the festival’s singing competition for young singers, is honoured with his turbulent tragicomedy “La Dori, overo Lo schiavo reggio” (“Doris or The Royal Slave”), which was premiered in Innsbruck in 1657. In the Year of Maximilian, a veritable treasure chest of musical riches will be opened and performed by Habsburg court musicians such as Heinrich Isaak and Paul Hofhaimer, and a children’s concert will follow in the footsteps of the musical court jester”.
More information: www.altemusik.at/de/festwochen

Klangspuren

6 to 22 September 2019 – Innsbruck/Schwaz

It doesn’t always have to be Mozart or Beethoven. Klangspuren is Tyrol’s festival for new music and can be described with the keywords: tolerance, open-mindedness and innovation. In 2019, the festival will be staged for the first time under the direction of Reinhard Kager, a music journalist, commentator and curator, and it will be interesting to see how he creates his first programme under the motto “Risse” (Cracks). At various venues, from Stams to Innsbruck, from Hall to Schwaz, music will be heard that seeks to achieve something new. The festival programme is rounded off by exciting workshops and all sorts of activities for children, teenagers and adults.
More information: www.klangspuren.at

18th INNF – Innsbruck Nature Film Festival
5 to 11 October 2019 – Innsbruck
The Innsbruck Nature (Film) Festival stands for the careful use of scarce resources and seeks to raise awareness about developing a respectful relationship with nature and the environment. The programme of the eighteenth edition will feature the best 50 nature and environmental films from all around the world, lectures, discussions, seminars, workshops and lots more about this vital issue. A large market with regional products in Innsbruck’s Old Town will be another of the event’s highlights.
More information: http://www.inff.eu/de/

Innsbruck’s Christmas in the Mountains
15 November 2019 to 6 January 2020 – Innsbruck
Innsbruck’s Christmas in the Mountains (Bergweihnacht) invites guests from far and wide to enjoy a relaxing time at six atmospheric locations with more than 200 Christmas stalls. Christmas in the Mountains can be experienced in all sorts of ways: with a traditional and romantic atmosphere in the Old Town; a family and village character on the market square; quiet, authentic and reflective in St. Nikolaus; modern and sparkling in Maria-Theresien-Strasse; artful and relaxed in Wilten; and with unique panoramic views of Innsbruck from the Hungerburg. All the Advent markets offer plenty of original gift ideas, Christmas tree decorations, traditional arts and crafts, and a wide range of delicious food. The programmes for both adults and children are full of variety, featuring St. Nicholas, masked processions, brass band music from the City Tower, children’s theatre, handicraft workshop and, of course, the Fairy Tale and Giants’ Alley. You’ll have so much fun, you’ll wonder where the time went!
More information: www.christkindlmarkt.cc

Tyrolean Carol Singing
14 & 15 December 2019 – Innsbruck
Tyrolean Carol Singing has been delighting visitors from far and wide for more than fifty years. At 5 pm on Saturday and 2 and 5 pm on Sunday, traditional artists from all over Tyrol cast their unique magic on Congress Innsbruck and get listeners in the festive mood with authentic music, impressive singing and the enactment of Christmas scenes.
More information and tickets: www.tiroler-volksmusikverein.at

Year of Maximilian 2019
1 January to 31 December 2019
Tyrol celebrates the “last Knight and first European” to mark the 500th anniversary of the death of Emperor Maximilian I. He had a greater influence on Tyrol than any other ruler before or since and is fondly remembered by the people of Innsbruck. The Golden Roof and the “Black Men” (Schwarze Mander) – his empty tomb – in Innsbruck’s Court Church are eloquent testimonies of his time and works. In this anniversary year, many events will provide the opportunity to get to know the Habsburg emperor better, a man with a deep love of Tyrol:

31 January 2019:                Opening of the Maximilian Special Exhibition in the Golden Roof
13 April to 27 October 2019: Exhibition “… in Fried und Einigkeit” (in Peace and Unity) in Stams Abbey
25 May to 12 October 2019: Special Exhibition “Maximilian I. – Aufbruch in die Neuzeit” (Into the Modern Era) in Innsbruck’s Court Church
12 October 2019: Maximilian celebrates – Year of Maximilian closing ceremony in Innsbruck’s Old Town
The complete programme and continuously updated events can be found at www.maximilian2019.tirol.