Festivals

The Luxembourg City Tourist Office (LCTO) organizes the annual "All American Music Festival" in the centre of Luxembourg, which is attended by up to 8,000 visitors each year. Held over three days, this open air music festival will plunge Luxembourg into the musical and culinary ambiance of the American Deep South. On place Guillaume II, is a big swinging music stage which hosts every year around 50 live musicians playing all styles of American music, including jazz, dixieland, New Orleans, swing, blues, country and gospel music.

The Blues Express is one of Luxembourg's biggest Blues music festivals and takes place in July in Fond-de-Gras and Lasauvage (Differdange). The one-day blues festival has become a real crowd-puller for visitors both near and far. The event isn’t just for hardcore blues or jazz fans, it is also an event for young and old. Besides the many concerts, visitors also have the opportunity to visit different art exhibitions as well as two museums and a market. Music fans can move between the two sites (Fond-de- Gras & Lasauvage) using the famous Minièresbunn, a mining train travelling 90 metres underground. The “Train 1900” (tourist steam train) connects Pétange to the venue.

website: www.bluesexpress.lu

The famous Blues'n Jazz Rallye is a real crazy, annual music marathon and Luxembourg's absolute summer highlight. Every summer, in mid July, this blues and jazz marathon organized by the Luxembourg City Tourist Office (LCTO) in cooperation with the Blues Club Lëtzebuerg, attracts up to 25.000 music lovers who invade the picturesque old city quarters of the Grund and Clausen. Its success story is not only based on music, but also on the good vibes, the charged atmosphere and the beauty of the surrounding fortress settings.

website: www.festivals.lcto.lu/fr/blues-n-jazz-rallye

e-lake is a free 3 days open-air music festival with a varied music program going from rock to techno. The festival takes place in a unique location on the lake of Echternach, with more than 20.000 people attending it in 2011.

Some of the bands include: Benoît Martiny Band, Napoleon Gold, Tuys, Ice In My Eyes, Aamar, The Majestic Unicorns From Hell, Juli, Beatsteaks, Blumentopf, Clueso, Die Firma, Die Happy, Donots, Hooverphonic, K's Choice, Sportfreunde Stiller, Such a Surge...

website: www.e-lake.lu

Since 1994, Dudelange and the Fête de la Musique is a love affair that brings together rock, indie, electro, folk and pop styles, and has done for more than two decades, with ever-increasing success. This is a musical feast, which signals that summer has officially begun. More than 70 groups and artists perform on 13 open-air stages and in cafes, offering an unprecedented variety of musical styles. The Dudelange Fête de la Musique is an unmissable annual event, when music lovers stroll through the streets, their hearts beating as one, captivated by the eclectic rhythms. 

Past acts:

Frank Turner & the Sleeping Souls, Joris, K’s Choice, Puggy, Katzenjammer, The Hooters, Gentleman, Mighty Oaks, Intergalatic Lovers, The Majority Says, Julian Le Play, Leslie Clio, Fish, Die Happy, Arid, Le Peuple de l’Herbe, Arno, Tito & Tarantula, Mrs Greenbird, Ezio, Wallis Bird, Red Cardell, Faudel, Poppa Chubby, Alphaville, Krezip, Wolf Maahn, Jeremy Days, Luxuslärm, Fool’s Garden, Louis Bertignac, Alphaville, Faudel, Royal Republic, Impala Ray...

Promoter:

Ville de Dudelange
In cooperation with Opderschmetz (Dudelange regional cultural centre)

Contact : john.rech[at]dudelange.lu

Tel : +352 51 61 21 280

website: www.fdlm-dudelange.lu

Since the creation of the festival in 1953, this open theatre is the annual meeting point for artists as well as theatrical and musical ensembles of international breadth.
In 1953 a handful of people from Wiltz had the extraordinary idea to create a Festival in the North of Luxembourg. From theatre one passed to jazz music all naturally, and one noticed that a public of connoisseurs and amateurs replied with attentiveness to this initiative. Thus, the Festival of Wiltz was able to present to its public some of the biggest artists of our time, and that for the first time in our country.
In 1991 a removable roof, which offers a refuge to thousand spectators, was installed. So the problem of bad weather was solved and the public was able to enjoy once more extraordinary acoustic conditions.
Bands: Manuel Barrueco, Carlo Bergonzi, Dee Dee Bridgewater, Maurice Béjart, Chick Corea, Miles Davis, Manitas de Plata, Yves Duteil, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Jan Garbarek, Dizzy Gillespie, Oscar Peterson, John Scofield...

website: http://www.festivalwiltz.lu/

Since 1975, Echternach, which is situated in the Grand-Duchy of Luxembourg, has been hosting the internationally renowned festival. Famous names like Benny Goodman, Yehudi Menuhin, Mstislav Rostropovitch, Montserrat Caballé, Anne-Sophie Mutter, Gidon Kremer, Alfred Brendel or, in 2009, Arcadi Volodos, Christian Zacharias, George Benson have performed at the festival as well as young talents and award winners from the country and abroad. Many pieces were performed for the first time in Echternach, ordered by the festival with the aim to promote young talented composers. Every year during the months of May and June, the locality of Echternach, which counts a little bit over 5000 inhabitants, is focused solely on music. Its' historic and cultural atmosphere, including its more than 1200-year-old history as well as its many architectural jewels - is the perfect scenery for the concerts which take place in the Basilica and the Peter and Paul Church. In April 2008, a modern concert hall in the new culture and conference center called "Trifolion" was added to the scene.

Musically speaking the Festival ranges from medieval and classic music to jazz and world music.

website: www.echternachfestival.lu

The Food For Your Senses Festival is THE festival for the Luxembourgish alternative music scene. It offers a range of music, exhibitions, camping and much more. Food For Your Senses is an outdoor festival that takes place in the month of May over a span of 3 days.

website: www.ffys.eu

The Last Summer Dance festival is a participative festival with an eclectic mix of music, workshops and arts at the end of August - start of September. Over two days, the idyllic castle park of Erpeldange-sur-Sure is filled with music from near and far, including bands like Konoba, Blue Nipple Boys, Tuys, The Disliked and Giant Rooks.

contact: contact(at)lastsummerdance(dot)lu
website: www.lastsummerdance.lu

At the turn of the new millennium, the reputation of Dudelange as Luxembourg’s City of Jazz was already firmly rooted in its outstanding previous history. Relying on this pioneering work and its ultimate commitment to jazz, Mrs. Danielle Igniti (Artistic Director) decided to create an international jazz festival doing justice to the dynamic image of Dudelange, and to defend with refueled fervor its cultural strategy by organizing a common platform for the artists, the public, the professionals and cultural workers, as well as the associations and societies interested in partnership.
Concentrating its efforts on jazz in all its forms, the festival offers a wide and open range of the most various currents, staking on the exceptional quality of the performances, shows and creations.

« Like a Jazz Machine » is a festival for all ages, worthy of a big city’s renown, dedicated to enhance the visibility and the moods of today’s jazz all over the city of Dudelange, the whole of Luxembourg and the large European borderland.

website: www.jazzmachine.lu

Since 16 years, the music festival "Live at Vauban" is organized every year by the Luxembourg City Tourist Office (LCTO) in the luxembourgish capital city. The 2011 edition featured twelve concerts during three days throughout  November.

The music festival Live at Vauban was launched in 1995, when Luxembourg was the European Capital of Culture. At that time the festival was held in a marquee on the Plateau du St Esprit, which had been transformed into a potent citadel stronghold by the famous fortress builder Sébastien Le Prestre de Vauban - after whom the festival took its name. Today the festival stands for a well-thought pattern of lasting cultural development, vouched for by the Luxembourg City Tourist Office, and mixes performances by local bands and international ones.

Bands: Marly Marques Quintet, Mister Goldhand, Amadou & Mariam, Die Happy, Youssou n' Dour, Marillion, Stephan Eicher, Keziah Jones...

music:LX, in collaboration with Luxembourg's Philharmonie, organises the Luxembourg Classical Meeting. The main goal of this showcase festival is to present the country's Classical music scene to an audience of representatives of concert halls, festivals, record companies and artistic agencies.

The first edition of the festival was hold in June 2015 on the occasion of the tenth anniversary of the Philharmonie and featured pianists Jean Muller, Cathy Krier, Francesco Tristano, the ensembles Artemandoline, Trio koch and Lucilin, clarinetist Max Mausen as well as opera singers Claudia Moulin and David John Pike.  

contact: luca[at]musiclx.lu

website: www.philharmonie.lu

The Luxembourg Festival 2016 includes outstanding productions at the Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg and the Philharmonie in October and November:

Opera and music theatre: Cole Porter’s Kiss Me Kate, a new production by Lee Blakeley (Théâtre du Châtelet production, co-production Théâtres de la Ville de Luxembourg); L’Autre Hiver by Dominique Pauwels (direction, stage and video: Denis Marleau and Stéphanie Jasmi) with United Instruments of Lucilin, Coro Gulbenkian, and the La Monnaie Children’s Choir; Dimitri de Perrot’s «Myousik» with the percussionist Julian Sartorius

Dance: Kaori Ito with the duo «Je danse parce que je me méfie des mots»; «Il Ritorno» by Yaron Lifschitz with Quincy Grant and the Circa Ensemble; Russell Maliphant’s «Conceal | Reveal» with 5 dancers; «Dança Sinfónica » and «Suite Branca» by Grupo Corpo from Brazil.

Orchestras: Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra / Yannick Nézet-Séguin and Hélène Grimaud; Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra / Daniele Gatti; OPL / Gustavo Gimeno with Patricia Kopatchinskaja and Janine Jansen; Deutsche Radio Philharmonie Saarbrücken Kaiserslautern / Miguel Harth-Bedoya with José Cura; Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique / Sir John Eliot Gardiner with Kristian Bezuidenhout; Orchestra of the Mariinsky Theatre / Valery Gergiev with Denis Matsuev

Recital: Janine Jansen; Pierre-Laurent Aimard; Anne Sofie von Otter; Gunnar Idenstam and Johan Hedin; Christian Gerhaher and Gerold Huber

Ciné-Concert: Jean-François Zygel / Fritz Lang

Jazz and world music: Michael Wollny and Vincent Peirani; Toumani and Sidiki Diabaté

website: www.luxembourgfestival.lu

music:LX, in collaboration with by now traditional partner for this event, neimënster, organises the Luxembourg Jazz Meeting from the 2012 every two years. The main goal of this showcase festival is to to present the country's Jazz scene to professionals including artistic directors from renowned festivals, label representatives and international journalists. 

The third edition, Luxembourg Jazz Meeting and Friends, will be held at the Neümunster Abbey in Luxembourg from November 25th  to 27th 2016 featuring major artists from the Luxembourgish Jazz scene such as the Reis-Demuth-Wiltgen trio, Sascha Ley & Laurent Payfert, Dock In Absolute, Pascal Schumacher in a special live formation with Maxime Delpierre, Pol Belardi’s Force, Michel Pilz, Jeff Herr Corporation, Pit Dahm Trio and Maxime Bender Universal Sky, as well as international ‘friends’, with Auguste Quartet (Quebec) and Andreas Rodosthenous Trio (Cyprus).

Around a hundred of worldwide professionals are already attending the event, such as artistic directors from Tokyo Jazz Festival, Jarasum Jazz Festival, Penang Jazz Festival, Hong Kong Jazz Festival, Paris Jazz Festival, Jazz En Rafale, Red Sea Jazz Festival, Jazz A Oloron, Sarajevo Jazz Festival, and many more!

contact: music[at]musiclx.lu

website: www.neimenster.lu

The annual world MeYouZik festival takes place in July in the very centre of Luxembourg-city, at the place Guillaume II, rue du St Esprit and place Clairefontaine.
Every year, the festival offers an avalanche of free world music concerts on three different stages. The big Lion Stage on place Guillaume II hosts international headliners whereas the smaller Holy Ghost Stage in the rue du St Esprit is dedicated to electronic world music and DJ's. As part of the festival, the culinary and informative MeYouVillage presents institutions and NGO's that are active in development aid projects as well as a third music stage.
Bands: Seun Kuti, Rotfront, Interactivo...

website: www.festivals.lcto.lu/fr/meyouzik

Omni, the unidentified musical objects festival takes place every year in July at the Cultural Meeting Centre of Neumünster Abbey in Luxembourg. "Dialogue between cultures and culture of dialogue", it mixes all kind of music styles and art - exhibitions, theatre, concerts, open-air festival, etc.
Bands: Manu Chao, Kati Meloua, Joss Stone, Jean-Luc Ponty, Foals, Goldfrapp, PJ Harvey...

 website: www.neimenster.lu

The Out Of The Crowd Festival takes place every year at the Kulturfabrik in Esch-Sur-Alzette-Luxembourg and brings you all the best in Indie/Experimental music.

The festival exists since April 2004 and brought to the Kulturfabrik amazing acts such as 65daysofstatic, Pvt, Forward Russia, Engine Down, Honey For Petzi, Ted Leo & The Phramacists; Pelican, These Arms Are Snakes, Baths, And So I Watch You From Afar, Battles a.m.m.

website: www.ootcfestival.com

Powerful, wild, and primeval – over the first two weekends of December, the rainy days festival presents contemporary sound landscapes no lawnmower could tame. Orchestral works run wild in two concerts with Ilan Volkov and the OPL; a wild free-jazz big band; a Wild West-style avant-garde rock trio; artificial woods out of a socket, heroes from northern sagas, tigers from America, and crocodiles from Manchester – all add up to a boisterous, eclectic, indoor and outdoor festival.

Venues include – as well as the Philharmonie, the Grand Théâtre, and the Mudam – the rocky setting around Neumünster Abbey, the storied casino cellar, and the city’s untidy outskirts: waste land, industrial ruins, and the bustle of pre-Christmas shopping malls. Even in the concert hall, the OPL and the highly cultivated ensemble recherche indulge in shows of force and outbursts of rage…

With festival debuts by exceptional ensembles (London Jazz Composers Orchestra, Blueblut, Distractfold, PHACE, and Magnus Lindberg’s Toimii Ensemble) and premieres and new work by Pierluigi Billone, Roby Glod, Alexis Guneratne, David Helbich, Steve Kaspar/Trixi Weis, Catherine Kontz, Jorge López, Daniel Ott/Enrico Stolzenburg, Alexander Schubert, Maurizio Spiridigliozzi, Pamelia Stickney/Mark Holub/Chris Janka, and many others.

contact: dramaturgie[at]philharmonie.lu

website: www.rainydays.lu

Located between Belgium, France and Germany, SONIC VISIONS is a Showcase and Conference Festival that creates a platform for professionals all over the music industry as well as for the international audience.

Previous editions included gigs by artists such as When 'Airy Met Fairy, Scarred, Cherokee, Rome, Say Yes Dog, An Apple A Day, Napoleon Gold, Bonaparte, Naive New Beaters, Royal Republic and keynotes by music professionals such as Carl Leighton-Pope, Alan McGee (Creation Records) and Ross Robinson (producer - KoRn, Klaxons, Slipknot, The Cure...)

website: www.sonicvisions.lu

Over 20 spectacles nad exhibitions, over 100 artists and 4 days of live music!
Created in 2005, The Cultural Flavours of the World festival- has become known to being THE cultural meeting-point to attend Every year the festival brings together a number of young regional and international talents combined with the best scene of pop, rock and world music!

Since 1997, around mid-March, the city of Dudelange is turning into the Mecca of Celtic music, hosting the jewels of this music genre at the Zeltik. The colorful festival takes place at the Alliance appendix of the Lycée Nic Biever’s sports hall. 2017 will be the 20th anniversary of the renown event. Traditionally, the 19th edition will be preceded by the ‘Celtic Prelude’, which will open the festivities on Friday 11 March at 8pm at St Martin’s church with the Berlin Pipe Company (Scottish Pipes & Drums) and Erik Hoppe at the organ. Saturday evening

Past acts:

Carlos Núñez, The Red Hot Chilli Pipes, Capercaillie, The Waterboys, The Levellers, Altan, Dervish, Los Paperboys, Soldat Louis, Moya Brennan, Dan Ar Braz, The Danceperados of Ireland, Celtic Legends, Skerryvore, The Rapparees, Bagad Kemper, Salsa Celtica, Urban Trad, Beoga, Guichen, Red Cardell, Xosé Manuel Budiño, Seth Lakeman, Bodh’aktan, The Kilkennys, Niahm Ni Charra Band, Cara, An Erminig etc.

Promoter:

City of Dudelange and CID - Centre d’Intervention

contact: john.rech[at]dudelange.lu 

Phone: +352 51 61 21 280 

website: www.zeltik.lu