re:start - District concerts for all – Heidelberger Frühling

The re:start program reached around 10,000 people in Heidelberg at its premiere at the Heidelberger Frühling Musikfestival 2022. Since then, the free concerts in the Heidelberg districts have become an integral part of the festival program. Together with partner institutions and local players, re:start brings music to the people.

The idea behind re:start has always been to create a space for community and encounters through the shared experience of music - for people. Because making and listening to music together connects people and can overcome boundaries. By offering low-threshold concerts with free admission in the city's districts, Heidelberger Frühling also helps to shape the city's identity.

Even more than in previous years, the re:start program 2025 will focus on those parts of Heidelberg that are a little further away from the festival campus in the Old Town. The point of reference in terms of content is the plea for moments of shared "liberated time" in the 2025 edition of the music festival.

In keeping with the funding concept of the Fonds Stiftung Zukunftsmusik, the Heidelberger Frühling is commissioning the young up-and-coming musicians of the Festivalcampus-Ensemble, which was first formed in 2023 and is funded by the Manfred Lautenschläger-Stiftung, with the conception and design of the re:start program.

Admission to all concerts is free. With your donation to the Musikstiftung Heidelberg's Fonds Zukunftsmusik - via the donation boxes at the concerts on site or online - you can support other projects with young up-and-coming musicians at Heidelberger Frühling in addition to re:start.

Donation account

Musikstiftung Heidelberg
Heidelberger Volksbank
Keyword "Fonds Zukunftsmusik"
IBAN DE90 6729 0000 0055 0000 00

re:start 2024

A total of nine concerts took place during the Musikfestival 2024 from March 15 to April 13 under the "re:start flag". They were performed by the young artists of the Festivalcampus-Ensemble 2024. These spanned a musical arc from Musikfestival focus composer Johannes Brahms and contemporary music to pop, jazz and world music. In Heidelberg districts such as CHAPEL in Südstadt, Metropolink's Commissary in Patrick-Henry-Village and the Augustinum on Emmertsgrund, the re:start program reached a total of 2,000 people.

re:start 2022

To mark its 25th anniversary in 2022, Heidelberger Frühling joined forces with 25 young artists, ensembles and district partners to develop "re:start", which celebrates culture as a fundamental force. For its first edition, the programme had one main goal: to bring people together again after the challenges of the coronavirus pandemic. A "restart" for concert life - similar to spring, which awakens nature from hibernation every year. During this time of crisis, it became clear how important a festival without high entry barriers can be for the city community. Without barriers between the audience and the stage, numerous musical offerings were made accessible, connecting urban society with one another. At the same time, re:start acted as a support program for young female artists who had suffered particularly from a lack of performance opportunities during the cultural lockdown.

The musical performances took place both indoors and outdoors. These included family, sing-along, supper, lunch and brunch concerts, market concerts, an Earth Hour concert, pub concerts, all-day music festivals as well as interactive formats and workshops. Performances took place in the empty Wilson Theater (Rohrbach-Hasenleiser), the synagogue of the Jewish community (Weststadt), the Tiefburg (Handschuhsheim), the CHAPEL community center (Südstadt), the Boxberg shopping center, the Emmertsgrundpassage, Café Schafheutle (Altstadt), the Heidelberg multi-generation house (Rohrbach) and the Marstall canteen (Altstadt). Heidelberg Central Station was a special venue for re:start. As part of the "KlaWIR am Bahnhof" festival, a meeting place for spontaneous communal music-making was created in the main building of the station during the first two weeks of the festival.

Participating artists from all over Germany included Audax Saxophone Quartet, Borsch4Breakfast, CelloFellos, Cosima Soulez Larivière, Das Kolorit, Ensemble Sozusingen, Hanke Brothers, Hanni Liang, Kartoffelstampfer, Kollektiv B12, Leander Kippenberg, Leon Lorenz, Line Klenke, Maximilian Sutter, Mona Heiler and Lisa-Marie Trodtfeld, Mert Yalniz, Nicolae Gutu and Marcus Sundermeyer, Oskar Meier, Peacock Mandala, Philip Pineda Resch, Porter Percussion Duo, The JLF Project, Valerie's Voices, zahira, Zahra Sebnat.