Since their found­ing in 1920, the Göt­tin­gen Inter­na­tion­al Han­del Fest­iv­al have made a sig­ni­fic­ant con­tri­bu­tion to the Han­del Renais­sance of the 20^th cen­tury. This makes them among the old­est Early Music fest­ivals in the world. Cent­ral to the pro­gramme are the annu­al opera pro­duc­tions, where many of Handel’s best-known works exper­i­enced their mod­ern world premi­eres. In Göt­tin­gen, all 42 of the composer’s oper­as were per­formed, along with numer­ous ora­tor­i­os. The ten-day fest­iv­al pro­gramme also offers a diverse selec­tion of ora­tor­i­os, gala con­certs, cham­ber music, and innov­at­ive cros­sov­er formats.

In addi­tion, there are sci­entif­ic sym­po­sia and the cham­ber music com­pet­i­tion Göt­tin­gen Han­del Com­pet­i­tion and the medi­ation pro­ject Han­del 4 Kids!. The Göt­tin­gen Han­del Fest­iv­al has thus developed into a cre­at­ive and vibrant meet­ing place for artists and music enthu­si­asts from all over the world. Since 2022, the renowned con­duct­or and spe­cial­ist in his­tor­ic­al per­form­ance prac­tice, George Pet­rou, has been at the helm of the fest­iv­al as Artist­ic Dir­ect­or. This year, the Göt­tin­gen Han­del Fest­iv­al will take place from 14 to 25 May 2026 and will be themed Tempta­tion.

Ophelia’s Cul­ture PR has been man­aging the festival’s Ger­man-lan­guage and inter­na­tion­al press rela­tions since 2008. The main focus is on nation­al press invit­a­tions and inter­views for pre-fest­iv­al cov­er­age in order to sup­port the renown of the tra­di­tion­al fest­iv­al. In addi­tion, we advise the Artist­ic Dir­ect­or Jochen Schäf­s­mei­er and the festival’s com­mu­nic­a­tions team on all mat­ters relat­ing to pub­lic rela­tions, from the announce­ment of the pro­gramme to loc­al mar­ket­ing.