Austria
From July 5 to 8, young people from all over the world, choirs, musical groups of various genres, orchestras, and string ensembles gather in Vienna for the International Youth Music Festival. Vienna is the world capital of classical music: traditions laid down by the great Viennese classics are carefully preserved in the city's modern theaters and concert halls and are instilled in future musicians and singers at music schools. In this regard, the festival will focus on a competition for young talents and an awards ceremony for the winners. In addition, the program includes numerous concerts in halls and churches, themed music evenings, and the festival will conclude with a parade of musicians through the entire city.
The Jazz Festival will take place in the city of Villach-Warmbad from July 9 to 13. From jazz to groove, from blues to Latin, from funk to electronica, this event showcases the many different facets of jazz music.
The focus of the summer Vienna festival “KlangBogen,” which will run from July 15 to August 19, is musical theater, including three opera premieres: “Macbeth” by Ernest Bloch, Mozart’s “Idomeneo,” and “Julie and Jean” by Gerhard Schedl, which will be presented at the famous Vienna Theater, built in 1801 and already having seen many a glorious premiere. In addition to the operas, which will be the main event of the festival, there will be a great variety of orchestral and solo concerts and chamber music evenings. The performers include the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra, Rudolf Buchbinder, Oleg Maisenberg, James Galway, Michael Heltau, Sir Roger Norrington, Bobby McFerrin, who will conduct at the closing concert, and many others.
Italy
From July 2 to 6, the city of Andria in southern Italy hosts a festival of jazz, blues, and gospel. One of the festival's charming features is its venue, a Greek amphitheater. Along the way, don't forget to take a look at Castel del Monte, which has been the glory of this place for eight hundred years.
“Wave in Arezzo” – a festival also known as the festival of love, takes place from July 2 to 6. It is the oldest and most prestigious rock festival in Italy. At night, the Arezzo “Wave” sweeps over Italian and European club culture, with more than forty DJs and techno and electronica performers, authentic music, modern rock, hip-hop, pop, contemporary dance, and so on.
The music festival “Without Borders” will take place from July 11 to 20 in Tarvisio. The festival organizers view music as a means of communication between different cultures. For ten days, the festival abolishes all existing ethnic, linguistic, social, and political boundaries (hence the wide range of genres, from classical to jazz). In support of this idea, the festival takes place simultaneously in three locations: Tarvisio (Italy), Klagenfurt (Austria), and Bled (Slovenia).
The Umbria Jazz Festival, held in Perugia from July 11 to 20, is an event not to be missed. This year the festival celebrates its thirtieth anniversary: over this time, Umbria Jazz has earned an excellent reputation both for its festive atmosphere (which is created not least by Perugia itself, a most beautiful ancient city) and for the big names among its participants. I think it is enough to say that this year Chick Corea, Herbie Hancock, Keith Jarrett, Tony Bennett, and many others are expected. In addition, free open-air concerts take place every day, and life pulsates in the streets of Perugia day and night.
United Kingdom
The International Music Festival, held in Cheltenham (Gloucestershire) from July 4 to 20, spans five centuries of music. Having originated as a showcase for contemporary British music, the festival has steadily grown and developed, including in its repertoire classical and romantic music, as well as contemporary music from all over Europe. This year's program features the brilliant orchestral music of Debussy, chamber works by Mozart and Haydn, and a number of works by Handel (who visited this city in 1751). The performers are the London Symphony Orchestra, Alfred and Adrian Brendel, Imogen Cooper, and various instrumental ensembles.
The picturesque Scottish island of Skye will host, from July 8 to 18, a celebration of music, songs, dances, storytellers, theater, and cinema – all the best that the Celtic tradition has produced in these parts. Bright young folk musicians from the west coast of Scotland, from the mountains, from Cape Breton, from Ireland, and from California, each following their own cultural and musical traditions, nevertheless sound quite organic together. In addition to Celtic music itself, many other musical directions are also featured: potpourri is, so to speak, the festival's motto. For example, the Russian violinist Oleg Ponomarev and his ensemble will perform a program consisting of elements of Russian Gypsy, Brazilian, folk, European classical, flamenco, Indian, Afro-Cuban, and jazz music; ensembles with names like “Celtic Salsa” are a common occurrence at the Skye Festival. Beyond musical eclecticism, unexpected combinations are formed by different art forms: for example, choreography with pyrotechnic effects – breakdancers dressed in fiery colors and illuminated by flashes of fireworks. And for lovers of pure genre, musicians performing traditional Scottish and Irish melodies on the traditional bagpipe should appeal.
Germany
In Hanover (Lower Saxony), from July 4 to 13, the world's largest Hunting Festival will take place, a kind of showcase of hunting traditions with a five-hundred-year history, carefully preserved by the respective clubs. For example, the ritual of drinking beer and schnapps from two mugs at the same time using a special technique. Nostalgic horseback rides, a festive fair, attractions in the spirit of old times - from a flea circus to a Ferris wheel. The culminating moment of the festival will be a parade of 12,000 participants - members of hunting clubs, musicians, shooters, horses and carriages, which move in a single procession from the town hall to the fairground. More than two hundred thousand spectators along the streets admire the longest procession in Europe.
The Bavarian Jazz Weekend will take place from July 10 to 13 in Regensburg. The streets of a small Bavarian town, as if frozen in the Middle Ages, are enlivened by the sounds of jazz. The festival will begin in the park with Eastern European motifs (besides German groups, musicians from the Czech Republic and other countries will come), then the action will move to the historic center of the city: there, in clubs, theaters and simply in inner courtyards, jazz of various styles will be heard - from Dixieland to modern.
On July 12, Berlin will host the annual Love Parade - this is, without exaggeration, the world's largest techno festival. It all began ten years ago, a few years after the fall of the Berlin Wall: DJs from East and West Berlin together went out to a demonstration in defense of tolerance, respect and mutual understanding of nations, where instead of pompous speeches and slogans, music was played. The legendary Love Parade started with 150 people and one platform; now it involves 1.5 million people and about 50 platforms. Since 2000, the Love Parade has also been held in other countries, for example in Austria, Great Britain, Israel and South Africa, and ravers from all over the world take part in the Berlin parade. Passing through the Brandenburg Gate, which once divided East and West Berlin, platforms move along the city streets - real clubs on wheels with sound systems, DJs and dance floors, on which ravers in acid attire and with hairstyles a la 'Run, Lola, Run!' go wild. Every year, the roar of heavy German techno, wild and eccentric revelry, ravers under the influence of LSD and tons of garbage with which parade participants cover the city streets drive native residents out of Berlin. But guests should see it.
Netherlands
The Julidans festival - 'July Dances' - will take place in Amsterdam from July 4 to 20. This is an international contemporary dance festival, known for its daring, non-template program, which gives the general public the opportunity to get acquainted with the latest trends in contemporary choreography. One of the program's focuses is non-European dance traditions. This year, for example, African dance will be in focus. Another specific feature of Julidans is the blurring of genre boundaries: dance is constantly combined with text, film, and other visual arts. In addition, special attention is paid during the festival to 'urban dance' - this common name defines specific dance styles that arise from authentic musical and dance street culture, which will be presented at Julidans in all its diversity.
From July 5 to 25, the Free Summer Festival takes place in Rotterdam: it will begin with the election of the parade queen, and the parade will pass through the city to the music of numerous brass bands. The festival program is very diverse, but the main emphasis is on Latin American music and dance. Salsa, merengue, samba, Brazilian DJs, Havana rappers, groups from Cuba and Venezuela - all this in Rotterdam.
Spain
On July 11, the eleventh Pirineos Sur festival will begin in Huesca (Aragon province) and will last until August 2. According to the festival tradition, established musicians will take the stage on par with artists who have not yet earned a big name, although they have proven their skill. The anniversaries of two stars will be celebrated - African (Alpha Blondy) and Caribbean (Kali): with retrospective concerts they will mark the twentieth and twenty-fifth anniversaries of their debuts, respectively. The main items of the program are nights of African reggae (traditional drums and modern rappers) and evenings dedicated to Gypsy music from India to Spain. Settling over the centuries over thousands of kilometers, the Gypsies mixed with the peoples who sheltered them; their traditions, music, and instruments were assimilated, but in any country Gypsy music, having absorbed local flavor, retains its easily recognizable individuality. Festival guests have a wonderful opportunity, if not to get to the common trunk from which all branches diverge, then at least to get an idea of the musical diversity of Gypsy art. Singers and dancers from Spain, Macedonia, Romania, France, Hungary, Greece, Turkey and India gather at the festival. Here you can hear flamenco, Balkan fanfares, melodies of great Gypsy singers, traditional Indian music... In addition to the actual music program, Pirineos Sur offers guests exhibitions, handicraft fairs, master classes in percussion, African dances, henna tattoos, making musical instruments, and so on.
Norway
Festival "Voices of Europe" in Ferde: musicians from 17 European countries will vividly demonstrate the diversity of European musical life, allowing exploration of the border areas between traditional music and other genres, that crucible of mixed styles and traditions from which today's music emerges. The festival program this year offers the captivatingly sincere fiddle of new Norwegian folk music within the concert series "Norway Now", Spanish-Arabic musical traditions, sensual and elegant Argentine tango, polyphonic chants of a male choir from Madagascar, a drum orchestra from Sri Lanka composed of Tamil and Sinhalese musicians, along with percussion and acrobatic dancers, ancient dance melodies of Afghanistan, Ukrainian songs, Balkan rhythms, melodies of Slovenia, Croatia, Romania, Poland, Belgium, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Russia, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Latvia.
Separately, a Celtic Sunday will take place: three concerts will be given by musicians from England, Scotland, and the surrounding islands. Kathryn Tickell plays the Northumbrian pipes, Shine sings songs accompanying herself on the Celtic harp, and Blazin' and Catriona MacDonald play jigs and reels on fiddles. And the highlight of the program will be a performance called "Dance!" - a performance by twelve of Norway's best dancers and performers of dance music.
Sweden
From July 9 to 12, the largest festival of folk and authentic music in Scandinavia will take place in Falun. Apparently, it is worth visiting the Falun festival at least to understand how musical directions differ, not to mention the white nights and the mirror-like surface of a forest lake.
And in the second half of the month, from July 17 to 19, the "Trästock" festival will take place in Skellefteå: more than fifty musical groups, a mini-festival of Scandinavian cinema, all theatrical genres, poetry readings, street musicians, and folk crafts.
France
The transdisciplinary festival "Summer Quarter" in Paris will take place on Bastille Day - July 14 traditionally marks in France the beginning of the mass exodus of Parisians from the stuffy city to the seashore. In the second half of July and in August, Paris seems deserted, but life goes on: it is precisely at this time that the "Summer Quarter" - a festival of folk and classical music, theater, dance, and many other arts (for example, animation), for 12 years now embodying the spirit of the capital in all its diversity and cosmopolitanism - begins. Participants come from all over the world - from Europe to Japan and India. "Summer Quarter" is a traveling festival; concerts and performances mostly take place outdoors, in parks, and generally in the most unexpected places: fairy tales are listened to at the cemetery, and Guinean acrobats from the "Baobab" circus perform in the Tuileries Garden.
"Francofolies" ("obsession with everything French") is the name of the festival held from July 10 to 15 in La Rochelle since 1985. Every year "Francofolies" presents the best songs in French, whose performers gather in La Rochelle not only from all of France, but also from all French-speaking countries: Belgium, Canada, Africa. The festival presents various musical directions, from rock, reggae, and folk to pop music and hip-hop, not to mention the inevitable Celtic music and Latin. In recent years, the festival has been held, in addition to France, in many countries - Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, Argentina, Chile.
At the very end of the month (July 30 to August 4) in Langon, a music festival with the intriguing name "Atypical Nights" will take place. The festival's concept has a distinctly political coloring: to geopolitical considerations ruling the world, to imperialism and colonialism hiding behind the names of civilization, progress, the "white man's burden," the festival contrasts universal human values, calling for perceiving otherness as a reason not for enmity but for dialogue.
From July 8 to 13, the "Twilight" festival will take place in the picturesque city of Rennes: bright concerts, light-music shows, and night festivities in the medieval center of the city. Breton cultural life is presented at the festival in all its manifestations: theater, dance, music, poetry readings in various European languages... In the Thabor garden, one of the most beautiful French parks of the 19th century, in a tent on Rue de la Monnaie, and simply on the city streets, performances in different genres will take place: a Gascon instrumental ensemble, brass instruments from Liverpool, Latin American ensembles, a group from Montpellier playing in Afro-Cuban style. Rennes restaurants prepare special menus for the festival.
Czech Republic
From July 4 to 2, the International Film Festival in Karlovy Vary will take place, one of the largest and oldest in Eastern Europe. It appeared in 1949, at the same time as the Cannes Festival, although it later developed, unlike the latter, under conditions of severe ideological pressure. Not having the opportunity to show Western films (except those that scourged the "rotten capitalist society"), the festival devoted most of its screen time to films from third world countries, so the section called "Horizons", which this year will show films from all corners of the world, can be considered traditional. The "Another View" section will include films depicting reality from an unusual angle, and the "Forum of Independents", devoted to the cinema of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, will prove the Czechs' lack of vindictiveness. In addition, the program includes a feature film competition, a documentary section, and retrospectives.
Prague Dragon Boat Festival will take place on July 14 and 15 in the historic center of Prague: twelve-meter Chinese dragons of Czech production will race on the Vltava. Twenty teams will take part in four different competitions. Throughout the previous year, the Prague Dragon Boat Club, a member of the Czech Dragon Boat Association, had been preparing for this international festival, which is taking place in Prague for the sixth time and has already become a tradition.