Events at Schloss Engers:
Wednesday 04.06.2025:
9:00 AM Seminar Reflecting on Music I
Lectures & Workshops with Prof. Dr. Immanuel Ott (Director/Germany), Hye Min Lee (Germany), Benjamin Janisch (Germany), Henrik Schuld (Germany), Prof. Alfred Eickholt (Germany) and Prof. Dr. Stephen Goss (United Kingdom) 5:00 PM Solo Recital: Pavel Steidl (Czech Republic) featuring music by Johann Kaspar Mertz, Ferdinando Carulli, Niccolò Paganini, and others.
Thursday 05.06.2025:
10:00 AM Koblenz Guitar Competition Round 2
Friday 06.06.2025:
10:00 AM Competition Continuation Round 2
2:00 PM Start of the Junior Guitar Academy directed by Russell Poyner (Germany/United Kingdom)
2:30 PM Luthiers' Stage - Guitar Presentations under concert conditions
Saturday 07.06.2025:
9:00 AM Seminar Reflecting on Music II
Lectures & Workshops with Prof. Rafael Padron (USA), Prof. Dr. Àlex Garrobé (Spain), Prof. Dr. Fabio Scarduelli (Brazil) and Prof. Łukasz Kuropaczewski (Poland)
5:30 PM Reception of the Koblenz International Guitar Society
Sunday 08.06.2025:
9:00 AM Seminar Reflecting on Music III
Lectures & Workshops with Prof. Dr. Fabian Hinsche (Germany), Prof. Luis Orlandini (Chile), Prof. Evangelina Mascardi (Argentina) and Prof. Dale Kavanagh (Canada)
12:00 PM In honor of his 80th birthday - Conversational Concert with Štěpán Rak (Czech Republic) & Kristina Vårlid (Norway)
Monday 09.06.2025:
11:00 AM Lifetime Achievement Award of the Koblenz International Guitar Academy, ceremonial act for David Russell with music contributions and an academic festive speech
2:30 PM Koblenz Guitar Competition Hubert Käppel - Final
7:30 PM Award Ceremony and Concert of the Prize Winners

Also in its 33rd year, the Koblenz Guitar Festival & Academy invites to exciting concerts and events around the diverse world of string instruments from June 1 to June 9 as part of the cultural summer of Rhineland-Palatinate. New this year is the location, as the festival will take place for the first time on the other side of the Rhine: on a campus comprising the State Music Academy of Rhineland-Palatinate, Schloss Engers, Heinrich-Haus, and Sayner Hütte. “This campus is a real gem in the north of Rhineland-Palatinate: We can accommodate and cater for around 100 students as well as 50 artists, there are hotels and holiday apartments, and the guitar makers have a perfect exhibition space in the historic town hall right at the castle gate – plus the immediate location by the Rhine and the most important thing: We can all be together again,” says Festival Director Prof. Georg Schmitz. He himself is a self-confessed fan, especially of the Sayner Hütte, which with its two halls provides suitable concert venues for both solo recitals and performances with an orchestra. Schmitz is not the only one who is pleased about the move to the site of the industrial monument; the manager of Sayner Hütte, Dr. Björn Rodday, explains: “This place combines history and present and provides, as a lively resonance chamber for artistic questions, the ideal framework for the Koblenz Guitar Festival.” Amid the historical industrial backdrop, the music can open up new perspectives, promote the dialogue between tradition and innovation, and intensify cultural experiences.
Thus, the cities of Neuwied and Bendorf will become the center of the guitar world from June 1 to June 9, as in addition to the concerts at Sayner Hütte, the courses and competitions at Schloss Engers and in the chapel of Heinrich-Haus will also attract guitar enthusiasts.
Every day, events of various formats take place at all venues: solo recitals, conversational concerts, competition rounds, seminars, and guitar presentations, along with artists from all over the world, will once again make the 33rd Koblenz Guitar Festival & Academy a musical experience in a class of its own.
Another attraction is sound art installations by students of the Sound Art Composition department of the Hochschule für Musik Mainz throughout the entire monument area of Sayner Hütte.

International solo artists, ensembles, and orchestras will perform on the nine festival days with a variety of programs. One of them is the guitarist David Russell from the United Kingdom, who will also receive the lifetime achievement award of the Koblenz Guitar Festival & Academy this year. “In a musical ceremony on Whit Monday, students, colleagues, companions, and friends will honor an artist who has led the guitar into new dimensions and has opened up expanded horizons and opportunities for subsequent generations,” says Festival Director Schmitz.

The complete program with details of the individual events and concerts, the works performed there, and ticket purchase options can be found online at www.koblenzguitarfestival.de.