Dazzling Opening - Festival international de Colmar 2026 - Eblouissante ouverture - Festival international de Colmar 2026

Description

On July 5 at 8:30 PM, the 2026 edition of the Colmar International Festival opens with its artistic director, Alain Altinoglu. The conductor leads his La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra in a "Dazzling Opening!"

For the occasion, the conductor presents a program blending classical "hits" (such as Richard Wagner’s famous Ride of the Valkyries), with one of the repertoire’s most celebrated song cycles: Richard Strauss’s Four Last Songs. The latter will be performed by South African soprano Masabane Cecilia Rangwanasha, winner of the 2021 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World competition and recipient of the 2024 Herbert von Karajan Prize at the Salzburg Easter Festival.

The second half of the concert continues with Strauss’s symphonic poem Also Sprach Zarathustra.

Further information is available on the Festival’s official website.