Schlern Music with new impulses

In May 2026, it will be that time again: the biennial Schlern Music chamber music festival will set off a veritable firework of works from different eras in various ensembles, taking place in unconventional, atmospheric locations in and around Völs am Schlern. Schlern Music will once again make Völs am Schlern the stage for an extraordinary week of chamber music amid the May-green alpine meadows. In this year’s edition, under the artistic direction of Chiara Tonelli and Philipp von Steinaecker, the festival will welcome outstanding personalities from the European music scene for a week of concentrated musical encounters. In mid-May 2026, Völs am Schlern will once again become a place where chamber music unfolds in a harmonious dialogue with space, nature, and audience.

This special festival experience extends far beyond the concert evenings, not only for the audience but also for the participating musicians. The traditional concert hall gives way to former barns, artisan workshops, castles, and extraordinary performance spaces, offering the works new resonant dimensions. When twelve renowned instrumentalists come together at the invitation of the Prösels-based musician couple Tonelli and von Steinaecker, an intense atmosphere of exchange arises, fueled by shared artistic curiosity and openness. Audiences, host venues, and not least the culinary culture of Fiè allo Sciliar naturally become part of the festival experience. A dedicated outreach program for children between 8 and 13 underscores Schlern Music’s aim to be more than a temporary cultural event: the festival positions itself as a vibrant part of local cultural life – open to both residents and visitors, and as a place for encounter, listening, and exchange.

Philipp von Steinaecker, who originally trained as a cellist at the New York Juilliard School, has set his focus on conducting for many years, being primarily influenced by Sir John Eliot Gardiner in the Orchester Révolutionaire et Romantique and by Claudio Abbado and also as Abbado's assistant and as Guest conductor in whose orchestra Mozart worked. He has been the artistic curator of the Gustav Mahler Academy Bozen for 10 years, with whose orchestra he led a remarkable performance of Mahler's 9th Symphony on original instruments last year.

Tonelli and von Steinaecker have been living in Prösels for over 20 years and not only spend the time here between their numerous touring and concert engagements - for many years they also organized a chamber music festival with musician friends, an idea that born during their wedding at Schloss Prösels, which was blessed with many musical contributions in the wonderful acoustics of the inner courtyard. With the increasing involvement in other projects and the birth of their daughter, they stopped the chamber music week a few years ago. After repeatedly being asked about it by musician friends and colleagues they gladly accepted their new assignment in the Schlern Music chamber music festival, which was relaunched in its current form a few years ago.

The ensemble of Schlern Music 2026 brings together internationally established musicians with exciting new voices. Violinist Aylen Pritchin, winner of the prestigious Long-Thibaud Competition, is in demand worldwide as a soloist and, alongside his professorship at the Düsseldorf University of Music, devotes himself with great passion to chamber music. Andrea Obiso, concertmaster of the Accademia di Santa Cecilia in Rome, returns to Völs following his acclaimed performance in 2024. Martin Zalodek, member of the first violin section of the Vienna Philharmonic, brings his experience from the world’s major stages. Salzburg-born Nanni Malm, member of the Camerata Salzburg and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, increasingly combines her work as a violinist with innovative music education projects.

Other participants include Volker Jacobsen, founding member of the Artemis Quartet and today a professor at the Hochschule für Musik Hannover, and Veronika Hagen, co-founder of the legendary Hagen Quartet, which has shaped the international quartet scene for decades. Cellist Kaori Yamagami, a Japanese-Canadian and former solo cellist of the Sydney Symphony Orchestra, is one of the most highly regarded chamber musicians of her generation worldwide. Double bassist Roberto di Ronza, principal bassist of the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Philharmonic, and clarinetist Robert Oberaigner, principal clarinet of the Staatskapelle Dresden and leading specialist in historical clarinets, complete the high-caliber ensemble.

The artistic directors are also present as performing musicians: Chiara Tonelli, solo flutist of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and Philipp von Steinaecker, cellist and conductor, who has set international standards with the acclaimed Mahler Originalklang Project.

Schlern Music 2026 presents a program spanning four centuries of chamber music – from the elegance of the Viennese Classical era to the open soundscapes of the present. At the center is the variety of ensembles: string quartets and quintets, chamber music for winds, and unusual instrumental combinations offer ever-new perspectives on familiar and rarely performed works.

A particular focus is on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s string quintets, whose second viola adds a delicate sonic expansion to the classical quartet. Works of the Viennese Classical period, such as Michael Haydn’s Trio in C Major for flute, viola, and cello, and Boccherini’s Divertimenti, are juxtaposed with chamber music of the late Classical and Romantic periods, including Beethoven’s Serenade and Max Reger’s Serenade for flute, violin, and viola.

With Johannes Brahms’ string sextets, string quintets, and the clarinet quintet, Romantic chamber music reaches particular depth and warmth. The 20th century is represented by Erich Wolfgang Korngold’s lyrical string sextet and works by Rebecca Clarke, Georg Friedrich Haas, and Krzysztof Penderecki, which take chamber music into new sonic dimensions.

The program concludes with a timeless classic: Mozart’s “Eine kleine Nachtmusik”.

Date	Time	Place
13.05.2026	09:00 pm	Eröffnungskonzert, Edelanistz Zimmerlehen
14.05.2026	09:00 pm	Stanglerhof | St. Konstantin
15.05.2026	05:00 pm	Kinder- und Familienkonzert, Bibliothek Völs
15.05.2026	09:00 pm	Kammermusik oder Orchester?" Künstlergespräch im Hotel Heubad
16.05.2026	12:00 noon	Schönblick, Hotel Gfell
16.05.2026	09:00 pm	Zimmerei Koholz, St. Anton
17.05.2026	11:00 am	Schloss Prösels | Prösels

All concerts are free of charge and provide open, direct access to chamber music of the highest level.

Status as of January 2026 – subject to change.

INFORMATION
Tourist Office Fiè allo Sciliar
39050 Völs am Schlern / Fiè allo Sciliar |  Tel. +39 0471 725 047
info@schlernmusic.it | www.schlernmusic.it