Big pictures for little ears: An extraordinary family concert at the stARTfestival

Leverkusen, May 4, 2026 – A forest of light, a sky in motion, accompanied by music that tells stories: On Sunday, May 10 at 4 PM, the stage at the Erholungshaus will become the setting for a special journey to the North. Bayer Arts and Culture, together with the Bayer Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Jesús Ortega Martinez, invites you to a family concert. The program features "The Four Legends of Kalevala" – newly narrated by Marc Schwämmlein, inspired by Finnish myths and carried by the music of Jean Sibelius.

At the center are the adventures of the hero Lemminkäinen, embedded in a world full of natural forces, magic, and archaic imagery. Sibelius' music guides through this narrative – sometimes floating and mysterious, sometimes clear and powerful. What usually takes shape in the mind becomes visible here: The projections for the piece are painted live, growing with the music and changing in the moment.

When sound becomes color

The Berlin artist collective Kopffarben provides the visual wow effect, bringing its images to the stage in real time. Lines, surfaces, and colors emerge directly from the sound – nothing is pre-produced, everything happens in the moment. Light becomes a storytelling element that picks up the music and spins it further. Scene by scene, a unique visual world develops.

"We are interested in the moment when music triggers images – when suddenly an entire world emerges," says light artist Julia Schäfer. "Especially for children, this is a direct access point because they can not only hear the music but also see it."

stARTfestival director Christoph Böhmke also sees the special quality of the format in this: "The family concert shows how powerful music can be when it connects – with stories, with images, with imagination. This is exactly what the stARTfestival is all about."

With a duration of 60 minutes and an admission price of five euros plus fees, the concert is deliberately kept low-threshold and is aimed at a broad audience – especially the youngest visitors.

About the stARTfestival
The stARTfestival by Bayer Culture celebrates art from April 17 to June 18, 2026, with around 25 interdisciplinary events – at the Leverkusen Erholungshaus as the main venue and at special locations in Odenthal, Monheim, Dormagen, Berlin, and Weimar. Here, classical music, jazz, dance, and performance merge into a festival that breaks tradition and opens up new perspectives – always with the aim of bringing people together through encounters.

For the fourth time, the family concert is part of the festival in Leverkusen – and has long since established itself as one of its most popular program points. On May 10, it’s time to dream along and dive in – into a fantastic world of sound and color.

Further information and tickets at www.startfestival.de

About Bayer
Bayer is a global enterprise with core competencies in the life science fields of health and nutrition. True to its mission "Health for all, Hunger for none," the company aims to benefit people and the environment with its products and services – by helping to address the fundamental challenges posed by a continuously growing and aging global population. Bayer is committed to making a significant contribution to sustainable development through its business operations. At the same time, the company aims to increase its profitability and create value through innovation and growth. The Bayer brand stands worldwide for trust, reliability, and quality. In the 2025 fiscal year, the company, with around 88,000 employees, achieved sales of 45.6 billion euros. Research and development expenses amounted to 5.8 billion euros. Further information can be found online at www.bayer.com/en

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