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When the tenor horn resounds at the Toblacher Euregio Cultural Center Gustav Mahler on July 11, 2026, it will mark far more than just the start of a new festival season. The Gustav Mahler Music Weeks are preparing for a programmatic and personal awakening, blending the historical depth of this place with a bold vision for the future. Alongside long-time artistic director Josef Lanz, Dirk Kaftan will join for the first time to significantly strengthen the festival's international orientation. This creates a dynamic that is directly reflected in the guiding theme: "The Beginning." With Dirk Kaftan, General Music Director of the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, the festival gains a visionary internationally esteemed for his unconventional formats and profound humanity in musical leadership.

"The Gustav Mahler Music Weeks in Toblach stand for the ideal synergy of nature, society, and the passage of time," says Kaftan. "They are a place of human encounter and for the creation of new relationships. I look forward to this beginning."

In the spirit of Mahler, who marked the beginning of his First Symphony with the instruction "Like a natural sound," the 2026 Music Weeks seek the moment when silence becomes music. Mahler himself understood his role in creating new worlds merely as a "singer of nature," as an instrument through which the universe plays. This thought has a natural home in Toblach and redefines the festival as a living, breathing organism. In a time of great upheaval, the festival looks to where everything begins: at the first spark of composition, in Mahler's own roots, and in the physical experience of nature as the primal source of all creativity.

The 2026 program reads like a cartography of becoming. "Gustav Mahler and the Mahler Music Weeks Toblach inspire us still today," says Lanz. "Once again this year, our audience can look forward to a varied and exciting program."

The opening by the Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheinland-Pfalz under Michael Francis sets a clear sign with Mahler's 7th Symphony—a work that, like few others, places the transition from night to light and thus the dawn of a new day at its center.

A particular focus is the residency of the Beethoven Orchestra Bonn under Dirk Kaftan. This residency underscores the new, decidedly international character of the Music Weeks and brings the spirit of the city of Bonn into an exciting dialogue with the Alpine world. According to Kaftan, this "sustainable guest performance pilgrimage" fulfills a European mission that Beethoven himself would have embraced. The juxtaposition of Beethoven's and Mahler's First Symphonies on July 17 and 18 will bring the moment of orchestral genesis to the stage.

A highly emotional comeback is celebrated on July 21 by the Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano and Trento: Under the direction of Michele Mariotti, the orchestra emphasizes the deeply rooted regional character and musical virtuosity of the region with Mahler's 4th Symphony.

Following the guiding theme of "The Beginning," the festival is increasingly dedicated to promoting young talents at the start of promising careers. With ensembles such as the Trio Orelon, the Korossy Quartet, pianist Valentin Magyar, and the Kainrath-Gerzenberg Duo, Josef Lanz fulfills this promise. Extraordinary young soloists step into the spotlight, proving with fresh energy that classical music constantly renews itself through the next generation. For professional audiences, this constellation offers fascinating insights into the evolution of symphonic form, while the Ensemble Windkraft with the project "Alpenklang" demonstrates that innovation has a home in Toblach: here, contemporary reflections merge with the archaic power of the Dolomites.

Yet the Gustav Mahler Music Weeks are not merely a concert event, but a total experience. The experience takes place both in a lecture series and on the hiking paths to the historic composer's cottage.

As an intellectual heavyweight, we welcome on July 18 the philosopher and former mayor of Venice, Massimo Cacciari. Together with other experts from the circles of the Gustav Mahler Research Centre Toblach – Innsbruck, the Gustav Mahler Music Weeks embark on a search for the sources of inspiration in the arts. Furthermore, the encounter with Reinhold Messner marks a special highlight this year. The festival invites the audience on July 19 to the Reinhold Messner House, at over 2,000 meters above sea level, for an exclusive exchange between music, mountaineering, and nature.

In the silence of the Dolomites Region 3 Zinnen, one can sense why Mahler chose this place to capture the inexpressible in notes. Between the magnificent Euregio Cultural Center Gustav Mahler and the rugged mountain world, a space emerges in 2026 that invites both new guests and long-time connoisseurs to breathe the spirit of renewal. It is a plea for the courage to begin, in art as in life.

We look forward to welcoming you to Toblach this summer.

Program