KLAVIERISSIMO

KLAVIERISSIMO stands for captivating piano music of the highest caliber. Every year, outstanding pianists thrill audiences with unforgettable concerts. In addition to the evening concerts, the festival offers special late-night concerts with KLAVIERISSIMO EXTRA, public masterclasses for young talents with KLAVIERISSIMO PLUS, and culinary delights before the concerts with the KLAVIERISSIMO BAR. Experience music that touches the soul – live!

We are delighted to offer you a diverse piano festival again this year, featuring renowned artists: world-class pianists – a true feast for the senses.

For Klavierissimo, a total pass for all concerts available, which can be ordered from the secretariat.

The 2026 season is entirely dedicated to "Diabelli."
Anton Diabelli (1781–1858) was a composer and music publisher. As a publisher, he possessed keen business instincts. His most successful idea, which has kept him in the public consciousness to this day, came in 1819. He asked numerous composers from Vienna and the surrounding area if they would each write a variation on a short waltz he himself had composed. He would then publish all these variations in a single volume. Fifty responded to his call and wrote for him. He had, of course, also approached Beethoven, but Beethoven, well aware of his stature, was a proud man and did not want to associate himself with just anyone. He made Diabelli wait several years and during this time wrote his most extensive piano work, the "33 Variations on a Waltz by A. Diabelli," a compendium of his compositional craft and an overwhelming legacy of his genius.
Diabelli, of course, recognized what an extraordinary work he had acquired and decided to publish it separately through his own publishing house. He followed up with the contributions of the other fifty composers in a second volume.

Among these fifty are many who are long forgotten today, but also some more familiar names like Hummel, Czerny, Schubert, or the then nine-year-old Liszt. Of course, according to the thinking of the era, they were all men.

This inspired Claudia Bigos, a pianist from Germany, to ask fifty female composers from around the world if they would write a contemporary variation on Diabelli's Waltz. Her idea was also successful: the pieces were published in a collection and premiered in a long concert. So today we have one hundred such variations (not counting Beethoven's), and that's not all: there are several more pieces, some from that time, some from our own. In total, I was able to find 114 works.

Our KLAVIERISSIMO 2026 aims to bring all these pieces to life!

On the first and last day, we will each hear a piano recital featuring Beethoven's famous masterpiece. It will therefore be performed twice!

In between, the “Diabelli Team”, consisting of
Mischa Cheung, Plamena Mangova, Ketevan Sepashvili and Melvyn Tan,
perform all 114 individual pieces for us.