The Schwetzingen Festival (German: Schwetzinger Festspiele or Schwetzinger SWR Festspiele) is an early summer festival of opera

Opera

Opera is an art form in which singers and musicians perform a dramatic work combining text and musical score, usually in a theatrical setting. Opera incorporates many of the elements of spoken theatre, such as acting, scenery, and costumes and sometimes includes dance...

 and other classical music presented each year from May to early June in Schwetzingen

Schwetzingen

Schwetzingen is a German town situated in the northwest of Baden-Württemberg, around southwest of Heidelberg and southeast of Mannheim.Schwetzingen is one of the 5 biggest cities of the Rhein-Neckar-Kreis district and it is a medium-sized centre including the cities and municipalities of...

, Germany.

In 1952 the South German Broadcasting Corporation founded the festival in the Schwetzingen area. It is located in a beautiful 250-year-old palace and park, Schwetzingen Castle

Schwetzingen Castle

Schloss Schwetzingen, or Schwetzingen Castle is a palace in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. Schwetzingen was the summer residence of the Electors Palatine Karl III Philip and Charles Theodore. It is situated in Schwetzingen, roughly equidistant from the electors' seats at Heidelberg and...

, near the famous city of Heidelberg. The main venue is the historic Schlosstheater Schwetzingen

Schlosstheater Schwetzingen

Schlosstheater Schwetzingen is a theater in Schwetzingen, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. The historic building, opened in 1753, is part of the Schwetzingen Castle and since 1952 the principal venue of the Schwetzingen Festival. It is also called Hoftheater , Hofoper , and Comoedienhaus...

. Nowadays, the successor organization is the Südwestrundfunk

Südwestrundfunk

The Südwestrundfunk is a public broadcasting company for the southwest of Germany, specifically the states of Baden-Württemberg and Rhineland-Palatinate. The company has main offices in three cities: Stuttgart, Baden-Baden and Mainz, with the director's office being in Stuttgart. It is an...

 (SWR) and it organises a large number of international concerts and music theatre events every year.

One of the festival's characteristics is the world premiere of a new opera, as well as at least one rediscovered opera from former centuries, performed on period instruments.

Year	World premieres	Early rarities
2000	Karl-Wieland Kurz: gute miene böses spiel	Giovanni Legrenzi Giovanni Legrenzi Giovanni Legrenzi was an Italian composer of opera, vocal and instrumental music, and organist, of the Baroque era... : La divisione del mondo
2001	Manuel Hidalgo: Bacon 1561–1992	Joseph Haydn Joseph Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms... : L'anima del filosofo L'anima del filosofo L'anima del filosofo, ossia Orfeo ed Euridice , Hob. 28/13, is an opera in Italian in four acts by Joseph Haydn, the last he ever wrote. The libretto, by Carlo Francesco Badini, is based on the myth of Orpheus and Euridice as told in Ovid's Metamorphoses...
2002	Salvatore Sciarrino Salvatore Sciarrino Salvatore Sciarrino is an Italian composer of contemporary classical music.-Biography:In his youth, Sciarrino was attracted to the visual arts, but began experimenting with music when he was twelve. Though he had some lessons from Antonino Titone and Turi Belfiore, he is primarily self-taught as a... : Macbeth	Georg Benda Georg Benda Jiří Antonín Benda, also Georg Anton Benda or J.A. Benda was a Czech kapellmeister, violinist and composer of the classical period.-Biography:... : Il buon marito
2003	Frederik Zeller: Irma Vep	Ignaz Holzbauer Ignaz Holzbauer Ignaz Jakob Holzbauer was a composer of symphonies, concertos, operas, and chamber music, and a member of the Mannheim school. His aesthetic style is in line with that of the Sturm und Drang "movement" of German art and literature.Holzbauer was born in Vienna... : Il figlio delle selve
2004	Adriana Hölszky Adriana Hölszky Adriana Hölszky is an Romanian-born German music educator, composer and pianist who has been living in Germany since 1976.-Biography:... : Der gute Gott von Manhattan	Giovanni Paisiello Giovanni Paisiello Giovanni Paisiello was an Italian composer of the Classical era.-Life:Paisiello was born at Taranto and educated by the Jesuits there. He became known for his beautiful singing voice and in 1754 was sent to the Conservatorio di S. Onofrio at Naples, where he studied under Francesco Durante, and... : Il re Teodoro in Venezia
2005	Frederik Zeller: Zaubern	Alessandro Scarlatti Alessandro Scarlatti Alessandro Scarlatti was an Italian Baroque composer especially famous for his operas and chamber cantatas. He is considered the founder of the Neapolitan school of opera. He was the father of two other composers, Domenico Scarlatti and Pietro Filippo Scarlatti.-Life:Scarlatti was born in... : Telemaco
2006	Salvatore Sciarrino Salvatore Sciarrino Salvatore Sciarrino is an Italian composer of contemporary classical music.-Biography:In his youth, Sciarrino was attracted to the visual arts, but began experimenting with music when he was twelve. Though he had some lessons from Antonino Titone and Turi Belfiore, he is primarily self-taught as a... : Kälte (Da gelo a gelo Da gelo a gelo Da gelo a gelo is an opera in 100 scenes by Salvatore Sciarrino. The composer's Italian libretto is based on one year and 65 poems from the journal of Izumi Shikibu encompassing her affair with Prince Atsumishi.The opera was a co-commission of the Schwetzingen Festival, the Grand Théâtre de... )	Joseph Martin Kraus Joseph Martin Kraus Joseph Martin Kraus , was a composer in the classical era who was born in Miltenberg am Main, Germany. He moved to Sweden at age 21, and died at the age of 36 in Stockholm... : Proserpina
2007	Bernhard Lang Bernhard Lang Bernhard Lang is an Austrian composer of the experimental and avant-garde school, particularly advocating a style he has self-termed "repetition-perpetrator".... : Der Alte vom Berge	Giovanni Legrenzi Giovanni Legrenzi Giovanni Legrenzi was an Italian composer of opera, vocal and instrumental music, and organist, of the Baroque era... : Giustino
2008	Adriana Hölszky Adriana Hölszky Adriana Hölszky is an Romanian-born German music educator, composer and pianist who has been living in Germany since 1976.-Biography:... : Hybris/Niobe	Agostino Steffani Agostino Steffani Agostino Steffani was an Italian ecclesiastic, diplomat and composer.-Biography:Steffani was born at Castelfranco Veneto. At a very early age he was admitted as a chorister at San Marco, Venice... : Niobe, regina di Tebe Niobe, regina di Tebe Niobe, regina di Tebe is a rarely performed opera in 3 Acts by Agostino Steffani, first performed at the Munich court theatre during the carnival season of 1688. It is a tragedy focusing on the Ancient Greek character of Niobe. The libretto is by Orlandi, after Ovid's Metamorphoses. The score is...
2009	Wolfgang Rihm Wolfgang Rihm Wolfgang Rihm is a German composer.Rihm is Head of the Institute of Modern Music at the Karlsruhe Conservatory of Music and has been composer in residence at the Lucerne Festival and the Salzburg Festival... : Proserpina	George Frideric Handel George Frideric Handel George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music... : Ezio
2010	Michael Jarrell Michael Jarrell Michael Jarrell is a Swiss composer. Born in Geneva, he studied at the Conservatoire there, and later with Klaus Huber in Freiburg.His works span many genres... : Le Père	André Grétry: Andromaque Andromaque (opera) Andromaque is an opera in three acts by the composer André Ernest Modeste Grétry. The French libretto is an adaptation of Jean Racine's play Andromaque by Louis-Guillaume Pitra . It was first performed at the Académie Royale de Musique, Paris on 6 June 1780...
2011	Georg Friedrich Haas Georg Friedrich Haas Georg Friedrich Haas is an Austrian composer of spectral music.He grew up in Tschagguns and studied composition with Gösta Neuwirth, Iván Erőd, and piano with Doris Wolf at the Musikhochschule in Graz... : Bluthaus	Christoph Willibald Gluck Christoph Willibald Gluck Christoph Willibald Ritter von Gluck was an opera composer of the early classical period. After many years at the Habsburg court at Vienna, Gluck brought about the practical reform of opera's dramaturgical practices that many intellectuals had been campaigning for over the years... : Telemaco Telemaco Telemaco, ossia L'isola di Circe is an operatic dramma per musica in two acts by Christoph Willibald Gluck...
2012	Enno Poppe Enno Poppe Enno Poppe is a German composer and conductor of classical music and an academic teacher.-Professional career:... : IQ. Testbatterie

Concerts have featured well-known artists such as Gidon Kremer

Gidon Kremer

Gidon Kremer is a Latvian violinist and conductor. In 1980 he left the USSR and settled in Germany.-Biography:Kremer was born in Riga to parents of German-Jewish and Latvian-Swedish origins. He began playing the violin at the age of four, receiving instruction from his father and his grandfather,...

 and Cecilia Bartoli

Cecilia Bartoli

Cecilia Bartoli is an Italian coloratura mezzo-soprano opera singer and recitalist. She is best-known for her interpretation of the music of Mozart and Rossini, as well as for her performances of lesser-known Baroque and classical music...

, as well as young artists at the start of their careers. Singers of the caliber of Barbara Hendricks

Barbara Hendricks

Barbara Hendricks is an African American operatic soprano and concert singer. Hendricks has lived in Europe since 1977, and in Switzerland on Lake Geneva since 1985, She is a citizen of Sweden.-Early life and education:...

, Fritz Wunderlich

Fritz Wunderlich

Friedrich "Fritz" Karl Otto Wunderlich was a German lyric tenor, famed for his singing of the Mozart repertory and Italian and German opera and lieder. He died in an accident when he was only 35...

 and Teresa Berganza

Teresa Berganza

Teresa Berganza, born on March 16, 1935), is a Spanish mezzo-soprano. She is most closely associated with the roles of Rossini, Mozart, and Bizet. She is admired for her technical virtuosity, musical intelligence and beguiling stage presence.- Biography :...

have performed at the festival as beginners and have all gone on to major careers.

External links

• Schwetzinger SWR Festspiele website