Handel Festival 2026

The 2026 Handel Festival in Halle will take place from 5 to 14 June. It will open with Handel's opera Rinaldo, directed by Walter Sutcliffe and conducted by Michael Hofstetter at the Halle Opera House. At the Goethe Theatre in Bad Lauchstädt, the lautten compagney BERLIN under Wolfgang Katschner and the renowned Milanese puppet theatre Carlo Colla e Figli will stage three Handel operas: Rinaldo, Ariodante and Giustino.

Other highlights of the programme include concerts with international stars such as Bruno de Sá, Emmanuelle de Negri, Valer Sabadus, Reginald Mobley, Andrea Marcon with the La Cetra Baroque Orchestra Basel, René Jacobs with the Basel Chamber Orchestra, Rinaldo Alessandrini and Concerto Italiano, and Holger Speck with the Vocalensemble Rastatt and Les Favorites. Of course, Messiah cannot be left out: the first year of the new European academy programme Balthasar NOVA presents Handel's famous oratorio together with the Balthasar Neumann Choir and Orchestra under the baton of Lionel Sow.

The motto of the 2026 Handel Festival is ‘Masculinities: Heroes, Rulers, Heartbreakers’. Artistic director Florian Amort: "Masculinity is once again a hot topic in society – in politics, the media and culture. The myth of the strong, potent, invulnerable man is experiencing a resurgence: politicians of all stripes are presenting themselves as leaders and warriors, while influencers and self-proclaimed masculinity coaches are conjuring up a “crisis of manhood” – usually with the aim of cementing traditional power relations. The demand for equality is stylised as a threat in order to reinforce gender hierarchies in which women and queer people are considered “different” but subordinate to men."

Influenced by these discourses, the festival focuses on Handel's male characters: brave knights, vulnerable lovers and power-conscious rulers, emotional fighters and fragile heroes. For even in the Baroque era, masculinity was not a rigid concept. Handel's operas and oratorios show men between strength and weakness, between public expectation and inner turmoil. The 2026 Handel Festival invites us to take a fresh look at these historical role models – and to ask what they still tell us today: about power and emotion, about responsibility and vulnerability.

The complete programme will be published when ticket sales begin at the end of November. The preview flyer is available for download here: Previewflyer Handel Festival 2026