Come and hear!

Five artistic personalities – five perspectives, five approaches, five paths to music.

Where is the spark that sets everything alight? It is found where great artists inspire young talents and pass on their knowledge and experience. Every two years, Kronberg Academy invites cello students from around the world to the “World Capital of the Cello” (Mstislav Rostropovich). Over the course of almost a week, they receive valuable inspiration and guidance from five distinguished teachers in public masterclasses. This year, we are delighted to welcome Ildikó Szabó, Frans Helmerson, Gary Hoffman, Jens Peter Maintz and Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt.

For interested visitors, the public masterclasses offer a unique opportunity to explore even the most hidden corners of the cello repertoire.

Day ticket for the public masterclasses: €12
Valid for all masterclasses on one day; free admission for young people and students under the age of 27.

Lesson Schedule – 29 September 2026

Venues: Casals Forum, Stadthalle, Galerie Opper, Museum KronbergerMmalerkolonie

Programme subject to change.

Haydn’s Cello Concertos – A Challenge Not Only for the Performers

Haydn’s masterpieces for cello and orchestra present challenges not only for the musicians on stage. For centuries, scholars and editors have grappled with fundamental questions: How often has Haydn’s famous name been exploited for forgeries? And how reliable is the surviving musical text—are we really hearing what Haydn intended?

Join us in the search for possible answers.

The lecture will be presented in English.

Programme subject to change.

Michael Rotschopf reads. Oliver Herbert plays the cello. Together, they conjure an hour of words and music about the courage to be oneself.

Walt Whitman, Oscar Wilde, Thomas Mann, Natalia Ginzburg, Dawn Avery, Iannis Xenakis and Pablo Casals – their voices, along with others, come together in an unusual literary and musical collage.

It is about rebellion and freedom, temptation and resistance – and about the question of when courage changes our lives. And whether sometimes we first have to go looking for it, only to discover that it has been there all along.

An afternoon for everyone who loves great writing and music, and who is open to bold and daring ideas.

Michael Rotschopf is an actor – and an exceptional interpreter of the spoken word. Trained at the Max Reinhardt Seminar, he was engaged by Vienna’s Burgtheater while still a student. He has worked with directors such as Peter Stein, appeared at the Berliner Ensemble, the Salzburg Festival and the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, and is also well known from film and television. For many years, Michael Rotschopf has also been in demand as a narrator and speaker in concerts, radio plays and audiobooks. Among other appearances, he performed at Carnegie Hall in Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s Requiem for a Young Poet.

Oliver Herbert is a cellist who has recently completed his studies at the Kronberg Academy. The American musician is a recipient of the 2021 Avery Fisher Career Grant and has appeared as a soloist with orchestras including the San Francisco Symphony and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He has a particular interest in contemporary music and in bringing familiar works into dialogue with newer, lesser-known repertoire.

Subject to change.

Benjamin Britten (1913–1976)
Les Illuminations, Op. 18

Edward Elgar (1857–1934)
Elegy

Wolfgang A. Mozart (1756–1791)
Concerto No. 4 in D major, K. 218

Subject to change

Camille Saint-Saëns (1835–1921)
Concerto No. 1 in A minor, Op. 33

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67

Subject to change

Five artistic personalities – five perspectives, five approaches, five paths to music.

Where is the spark that sets everything alight? It is found where great artists inspire young talents and pass on their knowledge and experience. Every two years, Kronberg Academy invites cello students from around the world to the “World Capital of the Cello” (Mstislav Rostropovich). Over the course of almost a week, they receive valuable inspiration and guidance from five distinguished teachers in public masterclasses. This year, we are delighted to welcome Ildikó Szabó, Frans Helmerson, Gary Hoffman, Jens Peter Maintz and Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt.

For interested visitors, the public masterclasses offer a unique opportunity to explore even the most hidden corners of the cello repertoire.

Day ticket for the public masterclasses: €12
Valid for all masterclasses on one day; free admission for young people and students under the age of 27.

The detailed class schedule will be announced at short notice.

Venues: Casals Forum, Stadthalle, Galerie Opper, Museum KronbergerMmalerkolonie

Programme subject to change.

Dr.-Ing. Thomas Zwieg, Chief Developer at the string manufacturer Larsen Strings A/S, offers insights into the interaction between instrument, strings, bow and bowing technique — and into what musicians can do themselves to influence the response, articulation, volume and timbre of their string instrument.

The lecture will be held in English and is intended for participants in the Cello Masterclasses as well as interested visitors.

Subject to change.

Excerpts from:

Joseph Haydn (1732–1809)
Concerto No. 1 in C major, Hob. VIIb 1 and No. 2 in D major, Hob. VIIb 2

Luigi Boccherini (1743–1805)
Concerto No. 3 in D major, G 476

INTERMISSION

Pyotr Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)
Variations on a Rococo Theme, Op. 33

Max Bruch (1838–1920)
Kol Nidrei in D minor, Op. 47

Prizewinners’ Concert of the Cello Masterclasses

Presentation of the awards:
As part of the concert, the Landgraf von Hessen Prize and the Frans Helmerson Förderpreis will be presented.

Subject to change

Final Concert of the Cello Masterclasses

Johann S. Bach (1685–1750)
Suite No. 2 in D minor for Solo Cello, BWV 1008
Isaac Lottman, cello

Johannes Brahms (1833–1897)
Sonata No. 2 in F major for Cello and Piano, Op. 99
Inez Karlsson, cello
Anna Naretto, piano

György Ligeti (1923–2006)
Sonata for Solo Cello
Angeline Kiang, cello

Samuel Barber (1910–1981)
Sonata No. 1 in C minor for Cello and Piano, Op. 6
Hun Choi, cello
Yumiko Urabe, piano

Martin Ulikhanyan
“Berd Dance” for Cello and Piano (2025), dedicated to Lyana Ulikhanyan
Lyana Ulikhanyan, cello
Mana Oguchi, piano

Francis Poulenc (1899–1963)
Sonata for Cello and Piano, FP 143
Sanghyeok Park, cello
Naoko Sonoda, piano

Zoltán Kodály (1882–1967)
Sonata for Solo Cello, Op. 8
Luís Dias Canali, cello

Gioacchino Rossini (1792–1868)
Une larme – Theme and Variations
Ana Martínez González, cello
Yoko Kuwahara, piano

Ludwig van Beethoven (1770–1827)
Sonata No. 4 in C major for Piano and Cello, Op. 102 No. 1
Álvaro Lozano Cames, cello
Yumiko Urabe, piano

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840–1893)
Excerpts from the Variations on a Rococo Theme (original version), Op. 33
Lyam Kaléo Gabriel Chenaux, cello
Anna Naretto, piano

Subject to change