Saxony-Anhalt is a land of music - and art. Handel was born here, Bach worked here, Kurt Weill composed here against indifference. Artists such as Feininger and Cranach left behind images that still resonate today. Art and music are not just events, but part of an evolved cultural landscape - interwoven with everyday life.
Music Festivals
Music plays a major role in Saxony-Anhalt - on historical stages as well as at festivals. If you are out and about here, you can choose between baroque and beats. The Handel Festival in Halle celebrates the city's most famous son every year in June - with music in concert halls, churches and in the open air. The Telemann Festival in Magdeburg also brings the Baroque to life - historically informed, staged in a contemporary way. And in Köthen, where Bach worked as court conductor, the Bach Festival recalls his formative years at the princely court.
Another accent comes from contemporary music: the KlangART Vision series brings new sounds to special venues - often as world premieres, and often across different genres.
The Kurt Weill Festival in Dessau also brings international musicians to Saxony-Anhalt - with a program of classical music, jazz and music theater that makes the social power of music tangible.
Open Air Festivals
As soon as the stages are set up in the open air, a different kind of experience begins. In Saxony-Anhalt, music enthusiasts celebrate between excavators, mountains and bathing lakes - with very different sounds.
- Splash!-Festival – Hip-hop below the iron giants at Ferropolis
- Sputnik Spring Break – Beats und Bass am Goitzschesee
- Full Force – Metal meets machine romance in Ferropolis
- Rockharz – Rock and metal below the Devil's Wall
- Metal Frenzy – Scene meet-up Gardelegen
- Metal Embrace Festival – small, intense festival with death metal and black metal in Barleben.
- Rocken am Brocken – Indie, rock, and festival atmosphere in the middle of the Harz mountains
- Hell Festival – Techno and hardstyle at Kelbra reservoir
- WIR LEBEN LAUT – young open air festival in Loburg with an electronic focus
- Kulturbrücke Festival – Indie sounds and pop moments in Magdeburg
- IMPULS Festival – contemporary music at special places
- SinusTon – sound experiments around Halle
- Macher Festival – music meets participation in Ferropolis: workshops, stages, exchange.
- Women in Jazz - international jazz festival in Halle (Saale)
Fancy even more parties and music?
Find out more about the music festivals in Saxony-Anhalt at Musikland Sachsen-Anhalt
Art Museums
A strong place for art is always also a place for silence. In the Moritzburg Halle, late Gothic architecture meets a collection of 250,000 objects - including works of classical modernism, expressionism and Bauhaus.
The Kunstmuseum Magdeburg - Kloster Unser Lieben Frauen exhibits international contemporary art within Romanesque walls. In one of the oldest buildings in the city, sculptures, installations and video art meet clarity and history - a place that leaves room for thought.
The Bauhaus itself is particularly present in Dessau: with the Bauhaus Museum Dessau, which shows the history of the school and its ideas - and with original buildings that are UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The Lyonel Feininger Museum in Quedlinburg is dedicated entirely to the Bauhaus master and is the only one of its kind in the world.
Smaller museums are also worth a visit: the State Coin Cabinet in Halle combines numismatics with art history. The Anhalt Picture Gallery in Dessau exhibits paintings from the Middle Ages to modern times - in a quiet hanging and with a view of the Georgengarten.
Art Festivals
When stables become galleries and old farms become open studios, art begins to move. The Wagen & Winnen project brings art to over 20 locations in the Altmark and Wendland - with over 40 exhibition spaces and 150 artists. KunstFest Kelbra also combines circus, music and exhibitions in a rural setting. The Zeitz Art Festival transforms spaces into places for encounters and dialog.
Famous artists
