Austria
From May 9 to June 15, the Vienna Festival will take place - the largest event in Austria's cultural life, lasting five weeks. The diverse program includes opera (both traditional and contemporary), theater performances, dance, music, and exhibitions. The festival will present Austrian culture itself, and many performers from around the world will also come representing the cultures of different countries.
From May 26 to June 9, the world-famous storytellers' festival "Graz Tells" will take place in Graz. Since 1988, this festival has upheld the ideas of tolerance for dissent, openness to other worldviews, and the commonality of cultures. The festival's guests will be storytellers and musicians of 23 nationalities, whose performances throughout the city will create a fairy-tale atmosphere and capture the attention of listeners through long nights. "Graz Tells" is a unique international festival on whose stage what takes place is not a theatrical performance but, one might say, life itself.
Great Britain
The Brighton International Festival (Brighton, Southern England, not far from London) is one of the most notable cultural events in England, annually attracting 300,000 spectators. From May 3 to 25, performers from 19 countries will show their art here: the program includes classical and street theater, music of a wide variety of genres (including opera), fireworks, circus performances...
And in Bath, from May 16 to June 1, an international music festival will take place: a nighttime celebration with fireworks will open a seventeen-day festival of classical and medieval music, which will also include, at the end of each week, days of modern European jazz and neoclassical music by contemporary composers.
The International Maritime Festival will take place from May 23 to 26 in Edinburgh. This largest maritime festival in Europe will gather sailing ships, warships, and classic sloops from various countries. Famous sailing vessels will line the coast of the eastern harbor - visitors will have the opportunity to board and talk with the crew. Invitations have been sent to ships around the world, but the main role will, of course, be played by the British Royal Navy.
Motorboats will compete in races throughout the harbor, and on shore visitors will be able to examine ship models in detail. Numerous exhibitions will also open here dedicated to maritime sports - from diving to long-distance sea swimming, as well as the ecology of the sea and professions related to the sea. Special attention at the festival is usually attracted by representatives of traditional crafts - ship's carpenters, blacksmiths, rope makers - who demonstrate their skill and give visitors the opportunity to try their hand, for example, at tying nautical knots.
The festival program includes performances by musicians on ships and on shore, street performances, and a parade by the Royal Marines Band. Everyone interested will be able, under the guidance of professional artists, to make huge dolls and masks for participation in a colorful Sea Parade.
Well, at the end of the month, on May 25 and 26, in Battle (the eastern part of Sussex) you can attend a medieval fair: costumed street vendors, performances, and dances around the maypole revive the traditions of one of England's most important historical sites - the Green Abbey in Battle. Musicians, stilt-walking jugglers, minstrels, and taverns operating around the square create a genuine atmosphere of a medieval carnival here.
Germany
International Black Cinema in Berlin is an annual intercultural and interdisciplinary film and video festival, open from May 1 to June 15 for anyone wishing to become a viewer or participant. In addition to the actual films and videos, the festival will feature music, dance, theater, and seminar sessions. The festival organizers see their task as promoting the emergence and development of mutual understanding and cooperation between different people and communities, supporting democracy, and combating violence, xenophobia, and racism through the means of art, education, and culture.
From May 1 to 6, the International Short Film Festival will take place in Oberhausen (in the Ruhr region, northern Westphalia) - one of the oldest and most famous festivals in the world, which has always responded sensitively to political and aesthetic changes, measuring them by its own independent yardstick. The determining factor at this festival is how a film relates to social reality, cultural differences, and aesthetic innovations.
The festival is something more than just a review of current short film production. Individual works are correlated with each other, ideas and trends are discussed and "processed" through joint efforts - the result is a shared experience and the birth of what can be called the contemporary short film.
The Netherlands
On May 4-5, the Netherlands celebrates the end of World War II: on the first day a solemn ceremony will take place, and on the second - concerts and fairs. The opening of the International Sand Sculpture Festival also falls on the same day, which will take place from May 5 to June 1 on the beach of the famous resort of Scheveningen (near The Hague). Along the one-and-a-half-kilometer beach, huge sculptures carved from sand by masters from different countries will be lined up.
This year's festival theme is "The Seven Deadly Sins," so the spectacle promises to be impressive. Eleven artists will be given five days to create the sculptures, after which festival guests will be able to see sandy wrath, greed, envy, gluttony, lust, pride, and sloth. On May 9, a professional jury will evaluate the sculptures and choose the best one. The evaluation criteria are perfection of composition and technical complexity of execution. Usually the opening of this festival coincides with the start of the local beach season.
National Windmill Day is celebrated throughout the Netherlands on May 10. In former times, every windmill was a center of attraction for the entire surrounding area. The position of the mill's blades reported various events happening among local residents: happy events and holidays were indicated by the so-called "walking" position of the blades, in which the miller stopped the blades just before they approached their highest point.
On May 10, windmills will again become the object of universal attention in the Netherlands. The country celebrates National Windmill Day and Pumping Station Day (in the Netherlands, located below sea level, pumps have always been a vital item). More than 600 windmills, water mills, and pumping stations across the country will open their doors to visitors, and millers will demonstrate their ancient craft. Tourists please note: mills with free admission fly blue flags.
Denmark
Carnival in Aalborg: from May 18 to 24, Aalborg, a small city in northern Denmark, will host a surprisingly large carnival: the costume parade held annually on the streets of Aalborg is the largest event of its kind in northern Europe. About 30,000 people take part in the parade and about 100,000 spectators line the streets to admire the colorful human flow.
Each year, participants in the processions make costumes according to a specific theme. The costume parade is partly made up of professional troupes, but mostly of spontaneous participants, and this is what distinguishes the Aalborg festival from most others: anyone who wishes can take part in the parade, have fun and dance. In addition to the parade on the streets, the carnival also takes place on water: boats with colored sails move in groups through the canals across the city to the harbor, where the carnival king is honored, chosen each year from among Denmark's most famous cultural figures. After that, the processions head to the central park, where participants dance and make music for the rest of the day.
As part of the big carnival, a special children's carnival will also take place on May 20, and on May 25 there will be a battle of carnival bands: invited groups compete for the title of Carnival Band of the Year.
Spain
From May 4 to 11, the city of Jerez de la Frontera will host the Feria del Caballo - the horse fair. At the city horse fair in Jerez, purebred Carthusian horses are displayed. Even someone who knows nothing about horses will surely have a lot of pleasant impressions at this noble festival, one of the most beloved in Spain: Carthusian horses - ridden or in harness - will compete with each other and show dressage. In addition to horses, the festival program also includes bullfights, livestock exhibitions, traditional songs and dances.
From May 14 to 20, Madrid honors Saint Isidore - the city's patron saint. This is the most significant of the May events in the Spanish capital; naturally, bullfights will be organized, as well as concerts, solemn processions, dance performances, and exhibitions.
A little later, spiritual culture gives way to secular, youth-oriented culture. On May 30 and 31, Madrid will host "Festimad" - the Madrid Independent Festival: twenty-four hours of music and theater performances at four venues. Twenty thousand festival guests will have fun in El Soto park to the sounds of pop, rock, techno and folk music. More than sixty musical groups will perform per day as part of the festival.
Italy
In Cagliari, on the island of Sardinia, from May 1 to 4, the feast of St. Efisio is solemnly celebrated: a huge colorful procession is made up of several thousand pilgrims in 17th-century costumes, accompanying the statue of the saint on foot, in carts or on horseback. St. Efisio the martyr was a legionary under Emperor Diocletian, converted to Christianity, and was beheaded on Sardinia in 303 for refusing to renounce Christ. In 1652, when Sardinia was devastated by a plague epidemic and the city of Cagliari was practically depopulated, the townspeople desperately called upon St. Efisio - and the pestilence ceased. Since then, the name Efisio has been inextricably linked with Cagliari and the entire island of Sardinia.
In Venice, on May 25, Vogalonga will take place - one of the most important Venetian events: a boat marathon in the lagoon, designed to revive interest in boating. The marathon tradition began 28 years ago on the initiative of a group of Venetians who love rowing and are faithful to the traditions of the "Serenissima" (that is, "the Most Serene", as Italians title Venice). The goal of this manifestation - to revive people's taste for boats, which for obvious reasons have always been the traditional means of transport in Venice - can be considered achieved: year after year the number of participants keeps increasing, mainly due to foreigners, approaching two thousand.
In the morning in the San Marco area, in front of the Doge's Palace, boats of all kinds and shapes gather, and one by one they set off on a 30-kilometer route: they wind between the islands of the lagoon, cross the city along the Cannaregio Canal, and arrive at the Customs House.
The success of the festival has stimulated the emergence of a whole community of rowers, workshops for the restoration and construction of boats, which were previously in decline. Participation in Vogalonga, a marathon devoid of competitive excitement, becomes simply an occasion to rediscover the Lagoon and the Venetian landscapes.
Malta
On May 4, 11, and 25, in Valletta, at Fort St. Elmo, a traditional costume military parade called "On Guard" will take place. About 90 officers and soldiers in historical costumes will demonstrate a series of drill exercises on the parade ground. The ceremony includes marching, changing the guard, rifle drills, the parade itself, and a cannon salute.
On May 9 and 10, a fireworks festival will take place in Malta: several fireworks factories will join forces to create together an unforgettable spectacle. The venue is the Grand Harbour in Valletta.
On May 16-18 and 23-25, the Malta Folk Music Festival will be held. Venue: Argotti Gardens, Floriana.
Norway
From May 21 to 31, the "Night Jazz" festival will take place in Bergen, on the eastern coast of Norway. This, the longest jazz festival in Northern Europe, is held annually from late May to early June in Bergen, on the premises of a former sardine factory that was turned into a cultural center and features several concert halls, galleries, a theater, a cinema, and artists' studios. In addition, the festival takes over Bergen's concert halls, including an open-air venue in the city center.
The musical profile of "Night Jazz" is quite broad, but among all the styles presented at the festival, the main emphasis is placed on modern jazz. However, within the festival, the boundaries between jazz, rock, ethnic, and electronic music shift and often disappear altogether.
France
The main cultural event in France in May is, of course, the 56th Cannes Film Festival (from the 14th to the 25th). This year the festival will be held under the sign of Federico Fellini, in connection with the tenth anniversary of the director's death. The official program is dedicated to Fellini, and various festival events will also evoke the master. In Cannes cinemas, a retrospective of his films will be shown - including restored versions that have never been released before; in addition, a number of documentary films and photographs of Fellini at work will be presented.
Numerous musicians will revive the music written for Fellini: a brass ensemble will perform the famous musical themes of Nino Rota and Nicola Piovani. Finally, Nicola Piovani himself, the last composer to work with Federico Fellini, will recall his work with the master during a Music Lesson that he will give on the stage of the Palais des Festivals on May 20, thereby inaugurating the history of a genre completely new to the Cannes Festival.
Festival in Les Saintes-Maries-de-la-Mer: every year on May 25 and 26, this ancient seaside town west of Marseille is overtaken by musical frenzy. The entire Gypsy population of Europe travels here to worship at the tomb of Saint Sarah, who is considered the patron saint of Gypsies. This is the last land that gave the world Gypsy kings, and although Gypsy speech is now rarely heard in these places, in the days of the festival Gypsy music sounds everywhere. It is worth noting that the "festival" in honor of St. Sarah is not oriented toward tourists. Rather, it resembles Gypsies simply gathering in groups and entertaining each other with spontaneous, impromptu songs and dances.
Night vigils are held at the tomb of St. Sarah, and everyone adds their own candle to a whole forest of wax burning in the small chapel. In addition, the Gypsies dress St. Sarah in all new clothes: forty or fifty dresses are piled onto the fragile statue, which grows fuller day by day.
Czech Republic
From May 12 to June 3, the Prague Spring Music Festival will take place, annually bringing together outstanding performers, symphony orchestras, and chamber music ensembles from all over the world. The festival was first held in 1946, and since then such musicians as Leonard Bernstein, David Oistrakh, Lev Oborin, Sviatoslav Richter, Herbert von Karajan have delighted audiences at the Prague Spring Festival... Honoring the anniversaries of great composers, the festival's organizers include their works in the program, which at the same time also presents world premieres by contemporary authors. The festival is of particular interest to young musicians, because concurrently with it the Prague Spring Competition for various musical instruments is held.