Leonkoro Quartet plays the opening concert in Augsburg

This motto sounds like a change of direction, like an outbreak from the scheme f – « Out of the Box » is the slogan for the Augsburg Mozartfest 2025. Freely translated: end with drawers, lid on and out of the hut box « All classical ». The festival in the hometown of Wolfgang Amadeus’ father Leopold wants to offer once more than just Mozart. This time, eleven festival concerts lead through a good 400 years of music history. « Artificial boundaries are canceled, styles, epochs and genres combined and newly created », Promises Simon Pickel, festival boss. Examples? The Finn Iiro Rantala is considered a jazz nature event on the piano, but will also play music by the baroque master Claudio Monteveri in Augsburg. The 12 cellists of the Berlin Philharmonic, on the other hand, travel with chansons, with songs by Édith Piaf. The weekend of the festival opening pulls through centuries in time. A young string quartet makes you take notice – and in the second concert the audience is allowed to puzzle: Mozart or not? Has a fake hidden in the program?