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For one month - from September 5 to October 3, 2024 - Bonn paid homage to its most famous son, Ludwig van Beethoven, and recorded the highest number of visitors since 2016.
The audience was able to choose from around 80 concerts at venues in Bonn and the Rhein-Sieg district, from large international orchestras to pop acts - as well as talks, exhibitions and workshops for everyone. The Beethovenfest ended on German Unity Day with a music festival of democracy at current and former political venues in Bonn.
Pianist Fabian Müller is the new chairman of the Friends of the Beethovenfest Bonn e.V. (opens in a new tab) At the general meeting at the end of August 2022, Müller was unanimously elected as the association's first chairman. The Circle of Friends has been supporting the Beethovenfest both ideally and financially since 2016.
Fabian Müller: "As a pianist with roots in Bonn, I have loved the Beethovenfest for a long time. I've got to know many festivals as part of my concert career, but the Beethovenfest has always been there for me in some way. It is undeniably one of the internationally important cultural beacons of the Beethoven city of Bonn and consolidates the city's cultural life in an unrivalled way. I am delighted to be able to personally support the festival in future as Chairman of its Circle of Friends."
The Director of the Beethovenfest, Steven Walter, congratulated Fabian Müller on his election: "I am delighted that Fabian Müller, an outstanding young artist, will now be at the head of our Circle of Friends. He is exactly the right ambassador for the concerns of our emerging festival. Fabian will also play a major role in the Beethovenfest as a pianist in the future."
Born in Bonn, Fabian Müller is considered one of the most remarkable pianists of his generation. He already caused a sensation at the 2017 ARD International Music Competition in Munich, where he won five prizes, including the Audience Award. In spring 2018, he made his debut with the Bavarian State Orchestra in New York's Carnegie Hall; in the 2022/23 season, he will make his debut with the Staatskapelle Berlin under the direction of Daniel Barenboim. Fabian Müller regularly performs at the most important international festivals and in the most renowned concert halls in Germany.
How it all began
The tradition of the Beethoven Festival in Bonn dates back to 1845, when a three-day music festival was organised to mark the composer's 75th birthday and the inauguration of the Beethoven monument on Münsterplatz. The British Queen Victoria and her Prince Albert were among the guests, as were the Prussian King Friedrich Wilhelm IV and the natural scientist Alexander von Humboldt.
From the very beginning, the citizens of Bonn were particularly committed to the city's famous son and to the new festival. In 1845, the Bonn craftsmen built the first wooden Beethoven Hall for 3.000 spectators in eleven days.
The driving force and generous sponsor at the time was the composer and piano virtuoso Franz Liszt, who argued that the small town could count itself lucky that a great man had seen the light of day in it and that his memory should not be celebrated in a small-town way.
