hr2 listening festival Wiesbaden 2026
The city of Wiesbaden and hr2-kultur are celebrating 25 years of hr2-Hörfest Wiesbaden with their audience. From January 26 to February 1, a whole week full of sound and listening events can be experienced: with the "hr2-Hörgala", the "hr2-Kinderhörgala", lectures, films and projects for children and young people. Ticket sales start: 4.12.
Kick-off with a musical reading in the Lutherkirche
The hr2-Hörfest Wiesbaden will open on Monday, January 26, with a musical reading. Accompanied by the Bach Choir and the Evangelische Singakademie, author Stefan Moster will read from his book "Vom Glück, im Chor zu singen" in the Lutherkirche Wiesbaden. The artist collective Tres Bosques (three forests) is concerned with the acoustic preservation of forest areas in Wiesbaden in its research project of the same name. From Tuesday, January 27 until Saturday, February 14, several listening stations will be accessible in the City and Music Library. The interactive audio sculpture "ListeningTubes" by ListenersCorner e. V. will also be installed in the city library on Saturday, January 31.
Lectures in the "Labyrinth of Hearing" and cinema for the ears
On Thursday, January 29, the Villa Clementine House of Literature will host the entertaining knowledge format "Labyrinth of Hearing". Three lectures will focus on the saxophone, language development in babies and languages threatened with extinction. The guests are musician Jakob Jentgens, anthropologist and language development researcher Kathleen Wermke and linguist Stefan Schnell. On Friday, January 30, the Murnau-Filmtheater will be showing the documentary "LA SCALA - The Power of Destiny" about the famous opera house in Milan.
hr2-Hörgala and hr2-Kinderhörgala with the "KIWI" award ceremony
On Saturday, January 31, chanson cabaret artist Tina Teubner, slam poet and comedian Nektarios Vlachopoulos, satirical songwriter Falk and comic quick-change artist Eva Eiselt will be guests at the big cabaret revue "hr2-Hörgala" in the main auditorium of the Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden. hr2 presenter Klaus Krückemeyer will host the evening. At the "hr2-Kinderhörgala" on Sunday, February 1, families with children aged 6 and over can look forward to the magician duo Carsten and Felix Skill, the saxophone duo Maya and Paul as well as members of the "Junior Sinfonietta" and "Sinfonietta" of the Wiesbaden Music and Art School. The "KIWI - Children's and Youth Audiobook Prize of the State Capital of Wiesbaden" for the best children's audiobook of the year 2025 will be awarded at a ceremony. Prize winner Benito Bause will read from the winning audiobook "Der Junge in den falschen Schuhen" by Tom Percival (Argon Verlag/Sauerländer Audio). The afternoon will be presented by hr3 presenter Tanja Rösner.
Projects with children and young people
On Wednesday, January 28, Wiesbaden pupils from IGS Alexej von Jawlensky will present their self-developed audio guide for people aged 10 and over for the Stadtmuseum am Markt (sam). The audio guide is being produced in the run-up to the hr2 listening festival as part of the "Museum Listeners" project, which hr2-kultur is implementing together with the Sparkassen-Kulturstiftung Hessen-Thüringen. Also on Wednesday, young people from the school project "Jugend debattiert" will discuss the question "Should the Hessian State Parliament stream its plenary sessions on TikTok and enable live commentary?" in the Hessian State Parliament. On Thursday, January 29, six school classes from Wiesbaden will present their own sound pieces, which they created with artists Ezra Houben, Priska Janssens, Ako Karim, Sabine Lippold, Andreas Nordheim and Ulrich Phillipp for "Klänge - Sounds - Geschichten".
In cooperation with hr2-kultur and the Wiesbaden Department of Culture, the Stiftung Zuhören (Listening Foundation) is offering the training course "Are you still listening or are you already listening?" for educational specialists and teachers from nurseries, primary schools and special schools. Registration is required for participation at the Literaturhaus Villa Clementine on Tuesday, January 27, via literaturhauswiesbadende.
Program overview hr2-Hörfest Wiesbaden 2026
- January 26, 7.30 p.m., Lutherkirche Wiesbaden
Stefan Moster: Vom Glück, im Chor zu singen / Musical reading - From January 27 to February 14, 10 am to 6 pm, City and Music Library
Tres Bosques / Sound Stations - January 27, 3 to 5.30 pm, Literaturhaus Villa Clementine
Are you still listening or are you already eavesdropping? / Listening education workshop - January 28, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Hessian State Parliament
Young people discuss - January 28, 11 am to 12.30 pm, Stadtmuseum am Markt (sam)
Where the Romans once bathed / Museum eavesdroppers - January 29, 10 a.m. to 11 a.m. and 12 p.m. to 1 p.m., Wartburg Castle (closed event)
Sounds - Sounds - Stories / Presentation of school projects - January 29, 7.30 pm, Literaturhaus Villa Clementine
Labyrinth of hearing / Exciting things to do with hearing, music and language, lectures - January 30, 5.30 pm, Murnau-Filmtheater
LA SCALA - Die Macht des Schicksals / Cinema for the ears - January 31, 5 to 7 p.m., Wiesbaden City Library
ListeningTubes - an interactive audio sculpture / ListenersCorner e. V. - January 31, 7.30 pm, Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, Großes Haus
Die hr2-Hörgala / Große Kleinkunstrevue - February 1, 3 p.m., Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, Kleines Haus
Die hr2-Kinderhörgala / For children aged 6 to 12 and their families
Advance booking offices
- Tourist Information, Marktplatz 1, 65183 Wiesbaden, telephone 0611 1729930
- Hessisches Staatstheater Wiesbaden, Christian-Zais-Straße 3, 65189 Wiesbaden, telephone 0611 132325
- Murnau-Filmtheater, Murnaustraße 6, 65189 Wiesbaden, ticket reservation (Monday to Friday 10 a.m. to 12 noon), telephone 0611 9770841