Festivals in Osnabrück

The world as a guest

From handmade folk music to digital media art - in Osnabrück there are many fundamentally different festivals that take place over several days every year. The current dates for the next four weeks can be found in the events - tips and an overview from A to Z can be found here.

Popsalon club festival in Osnabrück

Rosenhof, Lagerhalle, Hyde Park, Haus der Jugend & Kleine Freiheit

From 18 to 22 April 2024, it's that time again - the 12th Popsalon opens its doors. It offers a stage to a wide variety of artists in the Haus der Jugend, Hyde Park, Rosenhof, Kleine Freiheit and Lagerhalle and you are the wonderful audience! The kick-off concert will take place on 17 April 2024 at Rosenhof.

Once again, everything that belongs to pop will be played. From A for avant-garde indie pop to Z for timeless rock pop. The agency zukunftsmusik has spared no effort and put together a balanced and incomparable programme. Nothing stands in the way of an incomparable, wonderful, shrill and loud weekend in Osnabrück.

Live on stage are: Adam Angst, DITZ, Ennio, il Civetto, Lawn Chair, Madeline Juno, Nothhingspecial, Team Scheisse, Tristan Brusch, Walking On Rivers and more! If you're curious, you can listen in on the Popsalon homepage. Have fun!

Current festivals

Schlossgarten Open Air: Robin Schulz
09.08.2024, 20:00, Osnabrück
20. Morgenland Festival Osnabrück
09.08.2024, Osnabrück
20. Morgenland Festival Osnabrück
10.08.2024, Osnabrück
20. Morgenland Festival Osnabrück
11.08.2024, Osnabrück
20. Morgenland Festival Osnabrück
12.08.2024, Osnabrück
20. Morgenland Festival Osnabrück
13.08.2024, Osnabrück
20. Morgenland Festival Osnabrück
14.08.2024, Osnabrück
20. Morgenland Festival Osnabrück
15.08.2024, Osnabrück
20. Morgenland Festival Osnabrück
16.08.2024, Osnabrück
20. Morgenland Festival Osnabrück
17.08.2024, Osnabrück
Folk im Viertel
24.08.2024, 19:30, Lagerhalle Osnabrück e.V.

Festivals at a glance

Akyuerek-Fest_Kerstin-Hehmann
Akyürek Festival
Neighbourhood festival

The Akyürek Festival is organised by the Office for Peace Culture, cultural associations, schools and initiatives in the district. They present interesting and interesting facts with many hands-on activities (not only) for children. Music, dance, singing and poetry whet the appetite for the many speciality stands on offer. The festival takes place in May.

Old town live
It rocks and grooves in every corner!

Altstadt Live is the largest pub music festival in the region. Once a year, the Altstadtwirte hosts the autumn edition on the evening before the "Day of German Unity". So get out of your living room and into the parlour of Osnabrück. The music is on the house: admission is still free!

To the old town live
Piesberger_Gesellschaftshaus (c) Susanne Schoon
Mountain festival on the Piesberg
A festival with tradition

Every two years on the first Sunday in September, the culture and family festival attracts up to 15,000 visitors - with theatre, music, art, tours, hands-on activities and the light railway. Osnabrück steam locomotive enthusiasts offer shuttle rides on historic trains between the main railway station and the colliery station. At over 10 locations on and around the mountain, 100 performers present pure culture.

To the mountain festival
Osnabrück blues avalanche
Blues galore!

Every year, the Osnabrück Blueslawine in the Haus der Jugend presents a top-class programme. Every spring, the organisers succeed in attracting renowned artists to this popular festival in Osnabrück.

To the blues avalanche

Classic_con_brio_Sergey_Malvov_Violine__c_Julia_Wesely
Classic con Brio
Classical

Brilliant interpretations of classical music is the motto of the annual festival. At the Classic con Brio Festival, musical quality and artistic seriousness take centre stage, with the spontaneity of the moment on stage sparking the audience.

To the Classic con Brio
Euregio Music Festival
Classical

The annual Euregio Music Festival sets fresh accents with top young musicians, atmospheric venues in and around Osnabrück, carefully selected programmes and its own competition: the Euregio Violin Challenge.

To the Euregio Festival
European Media Art Festival
Media art

Every year in April, the EMAF presents experimental films, installations, performances and new digital formats. The spectrum ranges from personal and political themes, creative experiments to provocative statements from the field of tension between "media art and society". The festival sees itself as a place of experimentation and as a laboratory in which the unusual is created and shown.

To the EMAF
FamOS 2022
FamOS Festival
Urban Art

The festival for urban art is new in Osnabrück. Since 2021, the festival has been taking place in different spaces and on new facades. The aim is to create a constantly growing route of urban art through the city, with the murals creating a freely accessible museum of façade art. By the way: the initiators are always on the lookout for new spaces!

To the Famos Festival

Fest-Kulturen_Foto_Next_Choice
Festival of cultures
Intercultural

The traditional Festival of Cultures in Osnabrück takes place on the third Sunday in September on the market square by the town hall. It offers an intercultural programme, specialities and all kinds of information from different countries and regions of the world. Further information is available from the city's Office for Peace Culture.

To the festival of cultures
Folk-im-Viertel
Folk in the neighbourhood - People in the neighbourhood
Old Town Festival

One evening in August, the Heger Tor neighbourhood with its special atmosphere becomes a stage for international folk: sometimes traditional, sometimes modern, sometimes danceable. It is music from past centuries, sounds from distant lands or never-before-heard mixes of styles.

Folk in the neighbourhood
Logo Folk_meets_OS
Folk meets Osnabrück
Folk music

The folk bands on stage mainly play lively Irish, Scottish, English and American folk music. In addition to a band from the Osnabrück region, the evening will also feature two nationally recognised bands. It takes place in the Haus der Jugend.

To Folk meets OS
Gay in May
Queer Culture Days

The Gay in May e.V. association organises the oldest active festival in Germany. It aims to make sexual and gender diversity visible. In this context, the Rosa Courage Prize is awarded every year to people who have stood up for LGBTIQ people.

To the GayinMay Festival

Youth Culture Days
By and for young people

Longboard contests in empty halls, elephant sculptures in the middle of a building site - the Youth Culture Days have been a platform for youth culture since 2008. The JKT provide a stage and opportunities for young people to shape their own art and culture with creativity, commitment and equal opportunities.

To the JKT
Heger_Tor bei Nacht
Small festival in the courtyards
For culture flaneurs

Numerous small courtyards and squares are hidden in the alleyways and behind the picturesque facades of the old town district. On one evening in June, they become a stage for music, improv theatre and cabaret.

To the small festival
Kulturnacht_Foto_Friso_Gentsch
Culture night
Hotly anticipated...

... and over far too quickly: at the end of August/beginning of September, culture is presented in the old town from 6 pm, organised by the city of Osnabrück together with the cultural institutions in the city centre. Admission to the Culture Night is free. Information on the Culture Night is available by e-mail or by telephone on 0541 323-3092.

E-mail to the Kulturnacht
Lyra singing
Choir tradition on the market

Folk and peace songs in front of the town hall - the choirs encourage people to sing along. The day is organised in spring by the Osnabrück City Singing Circle.

Sängerkreisgruppe Osnabrück-Stadt, FOKUS e. V.
Telephone: 0541 28956 (FOKUS)

E-mail to Lyrasingen

MeWe 2021 Brasilianische Nacht (c) AngelavonBrill
MeWe Festival
"Seeing the individual - living together"

It is the new international cultural festival in Osnabrück, which takes place every two years - next time in June 2023. Here, literature and music, exhibitions and productions come together - united by a common theme, which in 2021, for example, was the Portuguese-speaking world.

To the MeWe
Morgenland Festival (c) Dreyer
Morgenland Festival
Oriental sounds at the cathedral

The Morgenland Festival brings musicians from the Middle East to the city and makes a return visit with the members of the orchestra. Everything from traditional music to rock and avant-garde is played. Since 2005, the Morgenland Festival has been a permanent fixture in Osnabrück and a source of inspiration for musicians from the Mediterranean to north-west China.

To the Morgenland Festival
Die Tür zum Rathaus ziert eine Friedenstaube und das Jahr des Friedensschlusses 1648.
Musica pro Pace
Music for peace

The Osnabrück Peace Day includes a concert from the "Musica pro Pace" series, organised by the Osnabrück Peace Talks, the churches and the city's Department of Culture. "Musica pro Pace" performs compositions that express the horrors of war and the longing for peace.

To Musica pro Pace
Plakat Musica Viva
Musica Viva
Early music

The festival was founded in 1989 by its artistic director Herbert Vieth at the same time as the establishment of the North German study centre Forum Artium - today an international music festival in the district of Osnabrück. An important part of the festival are interpretation and masterclasses on the performance practice of early music.

To Musica Viva

Dom_Kreuzgang
Osnabrück Organ Summer
Church music

The Osnabrück Organ Summer in July/August has been a cherished tradition since 1991, every holiday Tuesday at 8.15 pm in one of the five city centre churches. The church musicians of the main churches and guests play on valuable organs in cool churches. Admission is free! Further information from the Ecumenical Cantors' Convention

Calling the Organ Summer
Logo Kabarett Festival
Osnabrück Cabaret Festival
Laugh again!

The largest cabaret festival in north-west Germany takes place in Osnabrück in November/December. From classic political cabaret to sophisticated comedy and wacky chanson, all styles are represented.

To the cabaret festival
Polychrom_logo
Polychrome Jazz Festival
Colourful and dazzling jazz scene

Young bands on two stages - at Ledenhof and Katharinenkirche - play Lindy Hop and Latin, Swing, Neo Soul and Electro-Jazz. Jazz student Luka Kleine and the Musikbüro Osnabrück e.V. organise the POLYCHROMl. POLYCHROM is sponsored by the Friedel & Gisela Bohnenkamp Foundation.

To the Polychrom Festival
Musiker auf der Bühne beim Popsalon 2022.
Popsalon
Young bands that eventually fill arenas

The Popsalon is a lively event. It usually takes place over three days in April in different locations in Osnabrück and provides an incomparable, wonderful, shrill, quiet and loud weekend full of music.

To the pop parlour

Schloga Open Air Festival
Relaxed

Outstanding live music from the Osnabrück region - organised by the Osnabrück Music Office, the House of Youth and the Streetwork/Mobile Youth Work of the City of Osnabrück. The small festival in the castle gardens gives Osnabrück musicians a stage and the audience a relaxed open-air experience.

To the Schloga
Schlossgarten Open Air Drohnenbild des Schlossgartens.
Schlossgarten Open Air
Big stage!

After a successful start with the Schlossgarten Open Air 2015, the open air festival in the middle of Osnabrück's city centre will continue against a fantastic backdrop. The Fantastischen Vier, Revolverheld, Rea Garvey, Cro, Silbermond, Andreas Bourani and the Beginner have already performed on stage in the Schlossgarten.

To the Schlossgarten Open Air
Sommer_in_der_Stadt_c_Finke_Ennen
Summer in the city
Not a festival - a summer programme!

"Summer in the City" is the title of the programme, which presents over 100 summer cultural events in Osnabrück from June to September: Open-air cabaret, rock open air or cinema under the stars. And all of this directly in Osnabrück at various locations.

Summer in the city
So-konzerte_Gertrudenberg_Klezgoyim
Sunday concerts on the Gertrudenberg
Music and more

In the "Meeting Point for Art and Culture" and in the Gertrudenkirche on the grounds of the AMEOS Clinic in Osnabrück, the Sunday concerts have developed into one of the best-known concert series in the Osnabrück area - mostly classical chamber music concerts, but also including klezmer music, jazz, singing, readings with music or theatre.

To the Sunday concert

Logo Spieltriebe, Theater Osnabrück
Play instincts
Theatre on tour

Osnabrück Theatre is out and about in the city in late summer: visitors can walk or take a bus along various routes to unusual places where a variety of theatre productions are shown, from drama, dance and music to literature. One festival route begins and ends in front of the theatre.

To the play instincts
Terrassenfest Osnabrück
Terrace party
By & for students

Every year in spring, northern Germany's largest student festival offers a three-day festival with various workshops and activities as well as music acts in the evening on the university campus on the Westerberg. It is a highlight for all Osnabrück students and is known far beyond the city limits.

To the terrace party
Independent FilmFest Osnabrück
New films

Five days in October are dedicated to independently produced, socially committed, contemporary films. German and international productions compete for various awards - for short films or documentaries. There is a student award for young talent and, of course, the Osnabrück Peace Film Prize.

To the FilmFest
Young Urban Performances Festival
Young performance

The Young Urban Performances Festival has become a permanent fixture in the young performance scene. Every year, the YUP festival invites numerous artists to present their performative works in the Kunsthalle, Haus der Jugend and Museumsquartier Osnabrück.

To the YUP Festival

Note on possible changes at short notice

Please inquire on the homepages or directly in the respective houses about the current opening and event times, prices, cancellations, etc.. This information can change at short notice!