This is how feeling sounds – stARTfestival by Bayer Arts and Culture begins on April 17

Leverkusen, March 19, 2026 – Bayer Arts and Culture will open the stARTfestival 2026 on April 17. Under the motto 'This is how feeling sounds,' the program combines classical concert formats with interdisciplinary formats and choreographies for adults and children – with events in Leverkusen, Monheim, Dormagen, Weimar, and Berlin.

The festival is a model of art promotion rarely seen in the German cultural landscape: Bayer not only accompanies art but also shapes the program with its own festival format. In this way, an offering unfolds that deliberately opens up classical concert formats: Interdisciplinary formats meet chamber music precision, choreography meets sound, tradition meets innovation – for example, when the string quartet Brooklyn Rider performs the piece "Frida's Dreams" by Gabriela Lena Frank, specially commissioned for the festival, in Leverkusen.

Big names, open formats

The stARTfestival focuses on artistic presence – and on constellations that surprise. Musical personalities such as Gautier Capuçon, Alisa Weilerstein, or Hani Mojtahedy represent an international top class that the festival deliberately places in new contexts.

At the same time, the program opens far beyond classical music: with artists such as Conchita Wurst or Anna Mateur and The Beuys, evenings are created that dissolve genre boundaries with razor-sharp humor and expand artistic narrative forms.

Interdisciplinary projects – such as with performer Hendrickx Ntela, who lets rebellious freestyle meet string quartet sounds by Schubert with the Quatuor Zaïde – also combine artistic excellence with sound, performance, and visual design. The varied venues become places where very different arts meet.

A festival in motion

The stARTfestival consciously incorporates its venues – which are always located at or near Bayer sites. In addition to its center in Leverkusen with the Erholungshaus, the Scala Club Opladen (Robert Kreis, April 21) and Schloss Morsbroich (Guido Sant’Anna, June 3), it takes the audience to Altenberger Dom in Odenthal (l’arte del mondo with Kebra-Seyoun Charles & Helmut Mooshammer, June 12), in cooperation with the Festival Alte Musik to Kloster Knechtsteden Dormagen (Freiburger Barockorchester: B minor Mass, May 15), to Berlin at the headquarters of Bayer Pharmaceuticals (Nesa x Nina, April 23) and the Piano Salon Christophori (Beatrice Berrut & Nadir Graa, May 3 and Tom Betsalel feat. Nour Darwish, May 21). Also with the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar as a cooperation partner and the most important stage in Thuringia (Frau Thomas & Herr Martin, May 27), each location brings its own spaces and perspectives into the program.

The next generation: Talents of the stARTacademy

A defining element remains the stARTacademy, Bayer Arts and Culture's support program. The scholarship holders are a fixed part of the program every year – with their own formats and great artistic freedom. This year, Joshua Williams (May 30, Leverkusen with the Jazzrausch Big Band) and Guido Sant’Anna (June 3, Leverkusen with Plínio Fernandes) will participate, creating a network of encounters and artistic impulses while also having the freedom to set their own accents.

Innovation instead of routine

Christoph Böhmke, Head of Bayer Arts and Culture, says: "We want to create shared experiences for people that inspire and endure." This aspiration shapes the entire stARTfestival. The connection between innovation and tradition is not a promise but a practice: Existing elements are taken seriously – and at the same time opened up.

About Bayer Arts and Culture 

Since 1907, Bayer Arts and Culture has stood for continuity and relevance in art promotion and actively contributes to a vibrant and diverse music landscape. The focus is on artistic quality, interdisciplinary approaches, and programs that bring classical music into the present. Bayer Arts and Culture presents exceptional music, choreographies, and offerings that enable children and young people to access different facets of art.

Further information and tickets are available from five euros plus fees at www.startfestival.de. Some events are free of charge (registration required). The current status of advance sales can also be found on the website.

Exclusive interviews with the artists of the stARTfestival and press tickets are available upon request.

About Bayer

Bayer is a global company with core competencies in the life sciences fields of health and nutrition. True to its mission "Health for all, Hunger for none," the company aims to benefit people and protect the environment with its products and services – by helping to address the fundamental challenges of a steadily growing and aging global population. Bayer is committed to making a significant contribution to sustainable development through its businesses. 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 achieved sales of 45.6 billion euros with around 88,000 employees. Research and development expenditures amounted to 5.8 billion euros. Further information can be found on the Internet at www.bayer.com/de

Forward-looking statements

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