German music festival 2025 in Ulm and Neu-Ulm: Program and highlights

A colorful countdown already counts the hours, minutes and seconds until it finally starts. Only finds every six years The German music festival instead of. Now it comes to Ulm and Neu-Ulm. More than 500 concerts are from May 29 to June 1 under the motto « Music build bridges! » in the double town separated by the Danube. The program bursts at the seams. Our cultural editorial team was looking for the highlights in the admittedly somewhat confusing event jungle.

The good news in front: visitors can walk off at the German Music Festival without a specific plan and will inevitably stumble across concerts and musical entertainment. Whether Münsterplatz or Petrusplatz, Judenhof or Schwal, Glacispark or Adlerbastei: Music clubs from all over Germany appear distributed across both cities on open air stages.

Moop Mama, Max Mutzke and Bigband of the Bundeswehr give free concerts on Münsterplatz

Another good news: Most of the concerts and events of the German Music Festival do not cost. Also for the performance of the successful Munich Urban Brass band Moop mom You don’t need tickets on Thursday evening at 9 p.m. on Münsterplatz. On Saturday evening, also 9 p.m., singers will be on the stage of Münsterplatz Max Mutzke and the Bundeswehr big bandwhich sees itself as a modern, sounding business card of the Federal Republic of Germany and as a top -class musical ambassador of the Bundeswehr. In both cases, it should be worthwhile to appear on Münsterplatz in good time.

Only for that 14 gala concertsthat take place on the four days of the German Music Festival, visitors need tickets. In addition to local ensembles such as the Stadtkapelle Ulm (Wednesday, May 28, 7:30 p.m., Pauluskirche) or the young wind philharmonic Ulm (Thursday, May 29, 11 a.m., CCU), national ensembles, such as the Bundeswehr’s music corps (Friday, May 30, 7.30 p.m., CCU) or the State Flute Orchestra (Saturday, May 31, 14. Clock, ccu). Tubist Andreas Martin Hofmeir Plans an entertaining solo appearance as part of the gala concert. Under the title « Concertant appropriation – a musical cheek », he steals solo pieces of other instruments for his performance with the tuba, included. Hofmeir will play on Friday, May 30th, 7:30 p.m. in the old theater in Ulm. The ticket prices for most of the gala concerts are around ten euros, music festival participants pay about half.

These gala concerts take place as part of the music festival:

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• Stadtkapelle Ulm
• Young wind philharmonic Ulm
• District Association Youth Blazing Orchestra Ulm/Alb-Donau
• Police Orchestra Bavaria
• Rheinhessische Windenphilharmonie
• State youth wind orchestra Hessen
• Youth wind orchestra Zwickau
• Of course natural tone
• Swabian youth wind orchestra
• Music corps of the Bundeswehr
• Andreas Martin Hofmeir
• State flute orchestra Argentum
• Landesblasorchester Baden-Württemberg
• State Police Orchestra Baden-Württemberg

European Championship and German championship of brass music at the music festival in Ulm and Neu-Ulm

In addition to the concert program, various competitions also offer a varied program. Chapels from the area of Bohemian-Moravian brass music even compete on Friday and Saturday in the European Championship. The competition appearances take place all day in the small hall of the Edwin-Scharff-Haus. It should also be interesting International conductor competition become. After sending music recordings, 15 participants are qualified who compete against each other in three more rounds during the music festival. The final round will be held in the CCU on Saturday, May 31. The candidates have to bring « Spartacus » by Jan van der Roosts to the stage with the Army Music Corps Ulm.

Is held in Ulm and Neu-Ulm also the German championship of the players. In the disciplines of marching music evaluation, marching and standing rating, marching parade and show, the players compete against each other to qualify for the World Championships of the World Association of Marching Show Bands 2026 in Mexico and 2027.

Only for the second time there is also a German music festival Drum battle. The participants each have 120 seconds to present their technical play. The appearance must be completely moved in motion. Two ensembles face each other on an area of ​​15 by 15 meters. A jury decides on the victory, the winner comes into the next round. The drum Battle will take place on Friday, May 30th, from 5:30 p.m. to 7 p.m. on Münsterplatz.

Deutsches Musikfest 2025: « Sound Bridges » will connect Ulm and Neu-Ulm

Not only acoustically, but also visually, a Berlin artist collective wants to make an impression on the audience. The « Sound Bridges » are a project that the host cities Ulm and Neu-Ulm organized on the occasion of the German Music Festival. The Berlin artist collective Wittmann/Zeitblom & Liebert Want to stretch a bridge of sound and light over the Danube to match the motto of the festival. A total of around 80 musicians from here are involved with members of the motet choir of the Münsterkantore and brass of Ulm and the Neu-Ulm city chapel. The « Sound Bridges » on May 30 and 31 can be seen from around 10.30 p.m. from the Donauwiese at the level of the Fischerplätzle in Ulm and on the opposite bank on the Edwin-Scharff-Haus. There is a public dress rehearsal on Thursday, May 29th.

The detailed program for the German Music Festival is available on the specially set up homepage www.deutsches-musikfest.de. There, a chat bot also helps with orientation and answers questions about concert times and performance locations. In addition, the organizers have developed an app that should always inform participants, contributors and guests about the festival. It is available for download free of charge in the Apple App Store and in the Google Play Store.