Klavier-Festival Ruhr: Opening Night

The Klavier-Festival Ruhr opens with Bartók’s piano concerto and a bold Beethoven jazz crossover, blending classical and improvisation.

The Klavier-Festival Ruhr, running from May 7 until July 21, is a major international piano festival in Germany's Ruhr region. Since 1989, the festival has brought joy to 40,000 guests every summer with musicians coming from all over the world.

Two programme highlights will be recorded on the opening night of the festival.

In the first part, Yulianna Avdeeva, Omer Meir Wellber, and the WDR Symphony Orchestra devote themselves to Bartók’s Third Piano Concerto. This late work is Bartók’s most famous piano concerto and a milestone of music: radiant, virtuosic, and full of rhythmic energy. Avdeeva brings to it the blend of clarity and emotional intensity for which she has been appreciated for years.

After the intermission, Omer Meir Wellber—this time on accordion—together with Guy Mintus and Jakob Reuven, approaches Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with the question: What can this work tell us today? Their answer is a new arrangement for jazz piano, mandolin, and accordion that respects the original orchestral sound while also creating space for improvisation. When the three soloists enter into a musical dialogue with one another, a lively exchange emerges between classical music, jazz, and world music.

These programmes will leave you with a feeling of amazement and lightness and perhaps with the question of whether you have just experienced a classical concert or a jazz concert. The best answer: it was both, making it an ideal start to the Klavier-Festival Ruhr.

Original title KLAVIER-FESTIVAL RUHR: OPENING NIGHT
Genre Orchestral Music
Genre Jazz
Recording location Klavier-Festival Ruhr, Konzerthaus Dortmund
Recording date 07.05.2026
Production year 2026
Duration 4955: approx. 43 min.
Duration 4956: approx. 30 min.
Video format 4K/UHD
Production Company EuroArts Music
Production Company WDR
TV Director David Unger
TV Director Carsten Günther
Musical style Orchestral Music
Musical style Jazz
Original title of music work Ludwig van Beethoven: Triple Concerto in C Major, Op. 56
Original title of music work Bartók: Piano Concerto No.3 in E Major, Sz. 119
Composer Ludwig van Beethoven
Composer Béla Bartók
Conductor Omer Meir Wellber
Orchestra / Band WDR Sinfonieorchester
Soloist Omer Meir Wellber, accordion
Soloist Guy Mintus, piano
Soloist Jacob Reuven, mandolin
Soloist Yulianna Avdeeva, piano
Distribution TV EuroArts Music International