STYRIARTE 2026
Taking Stock – Looking Ahead
The response to each Styriarte festival is impossible to predict and never ceases to surprise us. Yet from the very first days of this year's festival, one thing was unmistakable: Styriarte 2026 set everyone aglow – our audiences, our artists, and our entire team.
The last time we encountered such warmth and enthusiasm was during the pandemic summers, when the Styriarte team was celebrated for making great musical experiences possible against all odds. This year, our audiences have found two particular reasons to celebrate.
First, there are the festival's luminous programmes, embraced as a welcome antidote to a world whose daily headlines grow ever darker. Then there is Styriarte's extraordinary breadth of musical worlds – spanning genres, styles and traditions – inviting listeners to step beyond the familiar and discover the joy of unexpected encounters. Time and again, our audiences have delighted in leaving their musical comfort zones behind.
The figures bear out these impressions: with attendance exceeding 90 per cent across the festival and a total of 30,537 visitors in 2026, Styriarte has once again demonstrated that curiosity, openness and the shared experience of live music continue to inspire and connect people.
What our audiences are telling us is a resounding endorsement of a path Styriarte embarked upon many years ago and has pursued with particular purpose since the 2016 PSALM festival under the guiding principle of hospitality.
Year by year, Styriarte has placed the interests and expectations of its audiences ever more firmly at the heart of its work. In many ways, it has already become the festival of tomorrow: one in which the concert rituals of the bourgeois tradition are no longer regarded as the sole or even the central expression of musical life, but as one beautiful form among many. This has allowed us to open our doors to the full spectrum of music that today's – and tomorrow's – audiences seek, while continuing to honour the rich legacy of 150 years of great concert culture.
We bring this vision to life in extraordinary places: from Helmut List Hall, whose technical possibilities allow us to infuse even the most classical concert with a touch of the unexpected, to the open landscape, where sunrise itself provides an incomparable stage design. We weave together Graz's remarkable historic and contemporary venues into thoughtfully curated festival journeys. "Graz is our star" is far more than a slogan – it is the principle that shapes everything we do. And where better to live this idea than in a city so richly blessed with culture?
Naturally, new ideas also bring new challenges. When every concert is no longer neatly ordered in rows of seats, the shared experience itself has to be renegotiated: too loud, too quiet, too many mobile phones, lighting that feels too theatrical or too much like pop. These are conversations worth having, and we continue to learn from them.
Would Nikolaus Harnoncourt be turning in his grave?
Quite the opposite. He might not have approved of every decision; he might even have argued passionately against some of them. But he would surely have recognised the ideas behind them. For him, music had to matter. It had to move people and leave an impact. That requires audiences willing to be inspired – and ever more audiences coming together to experience something magical that could never happen within the walls of a private home. Only then can what we do aspire to genuine cultural and even political relevance.
With the strong support of our partners and audiences, Styriarte will continue along this path. Alongside our experienced team, a growing circle of guest curators will shape the festivals of 2027 and beyond, bringing projects to life that until recently would have seemed unimaginable.
Stay curious.
A few figures
Styriarte 2026 originally comprised 32 projects with 65 performances. Thanks to overwhelming demand, the festival ultimately presented 72 performances. More than 32,000 tickets were available for this year's Light Plays, of which 30,537 found enthusiastic audiences, resulting in an outstanding attendance rate of 94%.
Eight concerts were recorded by ORF Radio and distributed internationally through the European Broadcasting Union (EBU). ORF Steiermark's Klangwolke production of Mahler's Symphony No. 2, performed twice by the Styriarte Youth Orchestra under the direction of Mei-Ann Chen, remains available on ORF ON until 16 August and will also be broadcast on 3sat on 20 September.
We have received a wealth of enthusiastic feedback from festival visitors. A selection of these responses can be found in the "Square of Moments" section of the Styriarte website.
Alongside numerous journalists from Austria, Styriarte also welcomed international media representatives from Germany, the United States, Hong Kong, Japan and Türkiye.
Styriarte 2027 will take place from 25 June to 25 July 2027 under the motto "Fantastic!".
