Two striking concerts form the beating heart of the fourth edition of the Davidsbündler Festival: a spectacular musical journey to the moon with Beethoven and a daring program in which the music of Nina Hagen is transformed for string quartet. With top artists Anna Fedorova and Ellen ten Damme, the festival promises to be a groundbreaking celebration of musical freedom.
Davidsbündler Festival
From May 20 to 25, the festival tours the Randstad under the title Carnival of Sounds! Internationally renowned musicians and young top talent meet in a program where classical music, experimentation, and theatrical imagination come together.
Beethoven to the Moon – Music Between Rockets and Stars
The festival opens on Wednesday, May 20, with a unique premiere at the Space Expo in Noordwijk. In this special setting, surrounded by rockets and space capsules, Beethoven: Destination Moon will be performed – a concert inspired by NASA’s Artemis II mission. Pianist Anna Fedorova and bassist Nicholas Schwartz will share the stage with leading musicians and young talents from the Davidsbündler Academy. “In addition to music by Beethoven, works by Vivaldi, Mancini, and John Williams, among others, will be heard, featuring an iconic finale from the Star Wars films,” says Annelaure Cazin, producer at the Davidsbündler Academy. The concert represents a rare cross-pollination of science and music, in which the audience is taken, literally and figuratively, beyond the boundaries of the Earth.
Nina Hagen in string quartet – a musical kaleidoscope
A second highlight of the festival takes place in the intimate Small Hall of the Concertgebouw, where the theme Carnival of Sounds! comes fully to life. Anna Fedorova and Ellen ten Damme share the stage with internationally acclaimed musicians and young talents from the Davidsbündler Music Academy. Central to the program is Schumann’s masterpiece Carnaval, Op. 9 : a lively series of musical miniatures full of masked figures, dancers, and dreamers. With its playful character, rich imagination, and surprising twists, the work fits perfectly within the colorful world of Carnival of Sounds!
The program takes the audience on a journey through various styles and atmospheres: from the dreamy Walking in the Air to the compelling chanson Milord , and from Chopin’s refined virtuosity to Fedorova’s sparkling Hymne à la joie de vivre . Nina Hagen’s Naturträne also finds a special place in a daring arrangement for string quartet. The raw energy of the original takes on an intimate classical sound, creating a surprising encounter between punk, performance, and tradition — entirely in the spirit of Carnival of Sounds!
Carnival of Sounds!
Surrounding these two concerts, a rich program unfolds featuring performances by Daniel Rowland, Dana Zemtsov, Benedict Kloeckner, and Maja Bogdanović, among others, alongside promising young musicians from the Davidsbündler Music Academy. In this fourth edition of the Davidsbündler Feest, the boundaries between genres and styles blur, and musical traditions are turned upside down with a wink. Anything goes, anything is possible. The festival invites the audience to let go of boundaries and experience music in a new way: playful, surprising, and without rules.
About the Davidsbündler Academy
The Davidsbündler Academy in The Hague offers high-quality education in classical music, with a special focus on pianists and string players. The academy is headed by the American Nicholas Santangelo Schwartz (bassist with the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra) and the Ukrainian concert pianist Anna Fedorova.
Website: https://www.davidsbundleracademy.com/
Ticket sales: https://www.davidsbundleracademy.com/concerts
