In Weimar, a year of art, music and theater among Bach, Goethe and outdoor performances

Weimar, Germany, is preparing to experience a 2025 under the banner of art, literature and music. The city that was the scene of the lives and output of giants such as Goethe and Schiller now presents itself with a rich calendar of cultural events, ready to engage visitors from around the world. The Weimar Tourist Office has announced the programming that will accompany the city until the end of the year, alternating between exhibitions, concerts, theater performances and art installations. Highlights include the Thüringer Bachwochen, the major exhibition project dedicated to Faust, the End of Summer Art Festival, and the Cultural Summer initiatives.

The Thuringian Bach Weeks: a festival in transformation

The Thuringian Bach Weeks(Thüringer Bachwochen) will open the calendar of major events with a new edition taking place from April 11 to May 4, 2025. With more than 50 events scattered throughout the region, the festival confirms its role as a landmark for classical music fans. However, the 2025 edition will also be a time of transformation, with a program that reflects the growing importance of culture as a mediating space in a rapidly changing world. The motto chosen for this year turns a famous phrase by composer Max Reger upside down: “End and beginning of all music,” an expression that alludes to a new beginning, capable of dialoguing with tradition without disowning it.

The “Faust” project and the homage to Goethe

Also at the heart of Weimar’s cultural proposal for 2025 is the exhibition project dedicated to Faust, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s absolute masterpiece. On the 250th anniversary of the writer’s arrival in the city, the Klassik Stiftung Weimar, one of Germany’s most important cultural institutions, is inaugurating a thematic year that will transform the city into a workshop dedicated to the work. Exhibitions, installations and discussions will invite the public to rediscover the text, interpret it and question its relevance. The major Faust exhibition, hosted at the Schiller Museum, offers a radical reinterpretation of the work: Heinrich Faust is presented as a symbol of ambivalent modernity, accompanied by objects from Goethe’s natural and artistic collections. The latter illustrate the themes and interests that accompanied him during the long genesis of Faust. The exhibition is notable for the originality of its layout, developed in part through collaboration with comic book artist Simon Schwartz and experts from Deutsche Kinemathek. An extensive video section brings together interviews with scholars and ordinary readers, offering a plurality of interpretations and access. There is no shortage of important offerings for younger or less experienced audiences, who will be able to find in the exhibition a gateway to the text and, at the same time, new keys to interpretation. Among the most anticipated moments of the thematic year is the opportunity to admire up close the original manuscript of Faust II, preserved at the Goethe and Schiller Archives, which will be on display precisely in 2025.

Weimar’s summer: outdoor concerts, theater and dance

In parallel, the city prepares to shine during the summer months with a busy calendar of outdoor events, collected under the title Weimar Summer 2025. From June through September, Weimar will be transformed into a grand stage with concerts, plays, street parties and dance performances. The goal is to return the city to its role as an artistic crossroads, mixing different forms of expression and welcoming artists from around the world. Details of the program will be announced in the coming weeks.

The Kunstfest Festival, a moment of great appeal

Another highlight will be the Festival Kunstfest, scheduled from August 20 to September 7, 2025. A multidisciplinary event that welcomes internationally renowned artists every year, the next edition also promises a rich and varied calendar. Among the already confirmed events, the Dee Dee Bridgewater Quartet’s We exist! concert, scheduled for July 16, will symbolically open the season. From August 20 to 23, FaustX, a new theatrical production signed by Brett Bailey and the company Third World Bunfight, will be staged. On Aug. 21, however, it will be the turn of the Buchenwald Memorial Concert, with the Capella Cracoviensis conducted by Jan Tomasz Adamus. On Aug. 22 Martin Kohlstedt will perform a long-awaited solo concert, while on Aug. 23 and 24 the new European circus will stop in Weimar with Musk, a show co-produced by FOCASA Circus and Peculiar Man. On Aug. 30 and 31, South African choreographer Gregory Maqoma will present the European premiere of the dance show Genesis - The Beginning and End of Time, followed on the same day by Anna Meredith’s concert entitled Fibs. From Sept. 4 to 6 it will be the turn of Faust II - Game Over, a new production by Stellwerk Junges Theater directed by Till Wiebel. Ideally closing the festival on Sept. 7 will be the show Faustus in Africa! by William Kentridge and the Handspring Puppet Company, an event that promises to combine visual theater, puppetry and political reflection.

In Weimar, a year of art, music and theater among Bach, Goethe and outdoor performances

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