Imago Dei Festival
March 29 – April 21, 2025 | Klangraum Krems in the Minorite Church
For more than a quarter century, the early Gothic Klangraum Krems in the Minorite Church has been home to the Imago Dei Festival. “I think in sounds, not in genres,” says Albert Hosp, the new artistic director, “and the Klangraum suits me perfectly. It has harmony. It is open to all forms of sound. The Gothic pointed arch is a symbol of encounter. In this church, which long since has not been one, every stone is a vessel for spirituality. Over the years, this spirit has been set free, not bound to any denomination.”
The festival opens on the last weekend of March (March 29 and 30) with a unique, multifaceted encounter between eras and religions: in “Israel in Egypt – From Slavery to Freedom,” George Frideric Handel’s oratorio mingles with Jewish and Muslim music.
On the other seven concert evenings, we whisk you away to the enchanting world of the salterio, present an unparalleled string quartet, old and new songs, a Renaissance lute meeting an electric guitar, folk music, and many world premieres. In “Bach tanzt” (Bach dances) performance fuses seamlessly with the music. On Good Friday, Bach returns combined with Hugo Distler’s “Totentanz” in a hymn to transience.
The last concert evening on Easter Monday (April 21) is a tribute to festival founder Jo Aichinger, who would have turned 70 on April 8: an opulent festival finale with a gathering of his companions.
Among the contributors to the festival: Konrad Paul Liessmann, Yair Dalal, Werner Ehrhardt, l’arte del mondo, Franziska Fleischanderl, the Koehne Quartett, Simon Mayer, Monika Hosp, Wolfgang Muthspiel, Hopkinson Smith, Karin Nakagawa, the Konzertchor Niederösterreich (dir. Flora Königsberger and Tobias Grabher), Cecilia Zilliacus, Clemens Wenger, Maja Osojnik, Lena Willemark (festival artist-in-residence).
All concerts are accompanied by talks or readings.
The picture series Distler Totentanz by Herwig Zens is on display.
Paul Leichtfried has created a new, cosmopolitan, and vivid graphic design for Imago Dei.
All programme details are online from December 12.
Venues: Klangraum Krems in the Minorite Church, Minoritenplatz 5, 3500 Krems-Stein. www.imagodei.at
donaufestival: Confusion Is Next
Sound, Performance, Art, Film, Discourse.
May 2–4 and 9–11, 2025 | various locations in Krems
“Confusion Is Next” is the title of a song by Sonic Youth from 1983. In 2025, the 20th year of donaufestival in its present form, the fabrication of political paranoia is an accustomed part of everyday life. Social turmoil is kindled through identity politics, disinformation triggers spirals of indignation, setting the groundwork for opposing political fronts and new forms of fascism.
Nö Festival und Kino GmbH., Minoritenplatz 4, 3500 Krems a.d. Donau, Press contact: Barbara Pluch, barbara.pluch@noe-festival.at, tel: +43 (0)664 60499332
December 2024 version – subject to changes
In this nebulous state, artists too have turned to tactics of irritation: Göksu Kunak’s installation at Kunsthalle Krems exposes the political-mafioso entanglements in Turkey in 1996, which continue to have an impact today. God’s Entertainment summons a dubious doppelganger of the Danube. In a stirring video opera, Ayla Pierrot Arendt investigates the tenuous fragility of peace in Georgia. The Original Bomber Crew translates Brazilian street life into anarchic dance energy. People Like Us drive 1001 images through our heads. In the midst of Krems’s pedestrian zone. And Jeremy Deller smuggles a disturbing statement by author Primo Levi about our present times into the urban fabric.
The music programme responds to such findings in its own way: Lankum plunge Irish folklore into deep dark drones, Tristwch Y Fenywod spin cobweb electronics about the suffering of women, Spiritualized immerse themselves in psychedelic parallel worlds, and Kabeaushé bathe in ecstatic softness. Liturgy cleanses the eardrums, while HHY & The Macumbas, Nídia, and Yellow Swans knot the legs and untangle the synapses: confusion is next!
Dramaturge Sara Abbasi is a new addition to the donaufestival roster. She worked most recently for the Ruhrtriennale and will be supporting Thomas Edlinger as curator for Performing Arts in the 2025 edition.
More artists will be announced when Early Bird tickets go on sale in mid-January 2025, and the full programme will be set at the beginning of March.
Venues: Festival Centre and Stadtsaal, Utzstraße 12 (festival centre); Klangraum Krems in the Minorite Church, Minoritenplatz 5; Kunstmeile Krems; and others, all: 3500 Krems a.d. Donau www.donaufestival.at
Sound Art
June 17 – September 14, 2025 | Klangraum Krems in the Minorite Church
Sound Art – Minorite Church
Camille Norment: Triangulation
Sound Art – Chapter Room
Adam Basanta: A Large Inscription (2019)
Site-specific works, orchestrated interplays of sound, space, light, time, movement, and form, create exceptional experiences with the architecture and acoustics of the early Gothic church and its chapter room. This year, works by the US-American, Norway-based artist Camille Norment will be presented in the Minorite Church and by the Israeli-born Canadian artist Adam Basantain in the chapter room. Furthermore, a sound installation by Swedish composer Maria W. Horn will be shown in the framework of the Imago Dei Festival (Mar 29 – Apr 21) and donaufestival (May 2–4 & 9–11).
Opening times Camille Norment and Adam Basanta: Tue–Sun 11 am to 5 pm, free entrance.
The work by Maria W. Horn can only be viewed on festival days with a respective festival ticket.
Venues: Klangraum Krems in the Minorite Church and the chapter room, Minoritenplatz 5, 3500 Krems a.d. Donau www.klangraum.at
Nö Festival und Kino GmbH., Minoritenplatz 4, 3500 Krems a.d. Donau, Press contact: Barbara Pluch, barbara.pluch@noe-festival.at, tel: +43 (0)664 60499332
December 2024 version – subject to changes
Kino im Kesselhaus
All year round from September to end of July (screening days Wed–Sun) | campus Krems
Krems’s arthouse cinema not only presents an exciting programme with a focus on European film all year round, it hosts talks with filmmakers, discussion rounds, Valentine/Easter/Halloween/Christmas specials, live concerts, cabaret, children’s puppet theatre, cinema workshops, poetry slams, an extensive educational programme for schools, as well as various cooperation events. In 2025, Kino im Kesselhaus celebrates its 20th jubilee with a special festive programme.
Scheduled live events in Kino im Kesselhaus in spring 2025: Jan 24 PAUL PLUT, Feb 13 AUSTROFRED concert/reading, Mar 1 MIRA LU KOVACS, Mar 22 THE BASE, Apr 11 100th jubilee PANZERKREUZER
POTEMKIN with live accompaniment Innode, Apr 24 ERNST MOLDEN & DAS FRAUENORCHESTER, and much more!
Open Air Kino beim Kesselhaus
July 3–20, 2025 | campus Krems
Once per year, the Kesselhaus cinema relocates to a neighbouring green space. Come and enjoy the major film highlights of the year, film classics, and exciting new releases on the big screen in a wonderful summery ambience under the starry sky. The open-air cinema at the Kesselhaus in the midst of vineyards and modern campus architecture is one of the highlights of Krems’s culture summer!
Venue: Kino beim Kesselhaus and open air beside the Kesselhaus, am campus Krems, Dr. Karl-Dorrek-Straße 30, 3500 Krems a.d. Donau www.kinoimkesselhaus.at
Glatt&Verkehrt Festival
July 11–27, 2025
• July 11–13, 2025 | Spitz Castle
• July 12–19, 2025 | Music Workshop in Göttweig Abbey
• July 23–27, 2025 | Winzer Krems, Sandgrube 13
The diversity of language is one of the red threads weaving through the 29th edition of Glatt&Verkehrt. On the festival checklist are varieties ranging from Irish Gaelic to Catalan, Estonian to Hungarian, Portuguese to Viennese. Alongside this European palette, you can enjoy sounds from the US, Mexico, and Afghanistan this summer in the Wachau region. Black music traditions juxtapose with ideas from Eastern Europe. There will be a tribute to Ernst Jandl’s 100th birthday and also to the Jewish heritage of legendary pop songs. Harp meets button accordion. Musical cabaret joins jazz orchestra.
Naturally, the multitude of idioms poses the question of how to overcome language barriers. On the other hand: when the Tower of Babel was under construction, the shared primal tongue probably made communication on the building site easier, but as we all know, the story didn’t turn out so well.
Nö Festival und Kino GmbH., Minoritenplatz 4, 3500 Krems a.d. Donau, Press contact: Barbara Pluch, barbara.pluch@noe-festival.at, tel: +43 (0)664 60499332
December 2024 version – subject to changes
At Glatt&Verkehrt, we indulge in a merry Babylonian jumble of languages! Concerts, table music, the Music Workshop, and a children’s programme get to the heart of cultural idioms in the most unexpected ways.
And our trusted, wonderful venues await you with open doors: Spitz Castle, Göttweig Benedictine Abbey, Winzer Krems, Wirtshaus Salzstadl, Klangraum Krems.
Once again, our festival partner radio station Ö1 will be on site for the five evenings at Sandgrube 13 to broadcast many of the concerts live.
The Music Workshop will take place from July 12–19 (Workshop Reprises July 18) at Göttweig Abbey and elaborate its special Glatt&Verkehrt sounds in diverse educational and pedagogical concepts, led by seven guest teachers from just as many regions and countries.
Early bird five-day passes (for Winzer Krems) are available from December 17, 2024 on.
Venues: Spitz Castle, Schlossg. 3, 3620 Spitz a.d. Donau.; Benedictine Abbey, 3511 Göttweig; Winzer Krems, Sandgrube 13, 3500 Krems a.d. Donau, and others.
www.glattundverkehrt.at
KINDER.KUNST.FEST
October 26, 2025| Kunstmeile Krems
An exciting programme with art, theatre, music, literature, and cinema at 17 venues hosting almost 40 events. Including: a musical children’s play at Klangraum Krems, a sound workshop in cooperation with AIR – ARTIST IN RESIDENCE Krems, and a children’s film and workshop programme at Kino im Kesselhaus.
Venues: All Kunstmeile Krems institutions www.kunstmeile.at | www.klangraum.at |www.kinoimkesselhaus.at
European Literature Days
November 20–23, 2025 | Klangraum Krems in the Minorite Church, amongst others
Since 2009, the European Literature Days, under the artistic direction of author and curator Walter Grond, have brought international writers and literature enthusiasts together to discuss current topics and books and to stimulate debate. Once a year, the Klangraum Krems becomes an inspiring meeting place for contemporary European literature: a dense four-day programme offers various discussion formats and readings as well as soirees and matinees with stunning contrasts between the latest in literature and music (curated by the Glatt&Verkehrt Festival) or visual art.
At the end of each festival, the Honorary Prize of the Austrian Book Trade for Tolerance in Thought and Action is awarded. Various school outreach programmes complement the programme (also in cooperation with eljub – European Youth Meetings).
Venues: Klangraum Krems in the Minorite Church, Minoritenplatz 5, 3500 Krems a.d. Donau, and others www.europaeischeliteraturtage.at
Nö Festival und Kino GmbH., Minoritenplatz 4, 3500 Krems a.d. Donau, Press contact: Barbara Pluch, barbara.pluch@noe-festival.at, tel: +43 (0)664 60499332
December 2024 version – subject to changes
PRESS PHOTOS for download
THE AMBIENCE OF THE FESTIVALS AND THEIR LOCATIONS
https://celum.noeku.at/pinaccess/showpin.do?pinCode=2025Jahresaussendung_Auswahl
IMAGO DEI FESTIVAL ARTIST PHOTOS
https://celum.noeku.at/pinaccess/showpin.do?pinCode=2025ID_
Nö Festival und Kino GmbH., Minoritenplatz 4, 3500 Krems a.d. Donau, Press contact: Barbara Pluch, barbara.pluch@noe-festival.at, tel: +43 (0)664 60499332
December 2024 version – subject to changes