The Baltic Sea Festival 2026

Baltic Sea Festival 2026

The Baltic Sea Festival – Östersjöfestivalen – returns to Stockholm from 21–29 August 2026, filling the city with music that spans the intimate to the monumental. Taking place in the heart of Stockholm – with Berwaldhallen as its central hub – the festival also extends into other venues across the city, inviting audiences to explore both vibrant concert venues and their stunning surroundings. 

Festival highlights

This year’s festival opens with a significant artistic milestone: Andrés Orozco-Estrada, newly appointed Chief Conductor of the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, leads the first concert, joined by internationally acclaimed soprano Malin Byström.

The Baltic Sea Festival is known for its wide-ranging, imaginative programming, and 2026 is no exception. Audiences can expect a rich mix of orchestral concerts, chamber music, choral works, jazz explorations, contemporary premieres and boundarypushing collaborations. The festival brings together everything from virtuoso soloists like Yunchan Lim, Jakub Józef Orliński, Daniel Lozakovich and Asya Fateyeva, chamber ensembles like Opus13 and exciting contemporary composers like Jacob Mühlrad and Molly Kien, to international orchestras like the Czech Philharmonics and worldrenowned conductors like Semyon Bychkov and festival co-founder Esa-Pekka Salonen. Alongside established names, the festival proudly showcases emerging voices and new talent, creating a dynamic and forward-looking musical experience. 

Across nine days, the Baltic Sea Festival invites you into sound worlds that blur borders –between genres, generations and geographies. From breathtaking symphonic forces to delicate chamber textures, from the improvisatory freedom of jazz to the bold curiosity of today’s composers, each programme sheds new light on themes such as creativity, nature, tradition and innovation.

Experience Stockholm at its most beautiful—and music at its very best

It is a festival where heritage meets vision, where deep-rooted artistic craft intersects with fresh perspectives and new ideas. Yet the magic of the Baltic Sea Festival is not only in the music. It is in the setting. August in Stockholm is one of the most beautiful times of year: long golden evenings, a gentle late-summer warmth, and a city where the pulse of urban life sits just steps away from shimmering water, parks and nature trails. The festival offers the perfect opportunity to experience this unique atmosphere while enjoying worldclass music performed by leading artists from around the globe. 

Whether you are drawn by grand orchestral nights, intimate recitals or the thrill of discovery, the Baltic Sea Festival promises an inspiring journey across musical landscapes. Here, the familiar becomes new, the unexpected becomes luminous, and each performance becomes a meeting point between artists, audience and the world around us. 

Experience Stockholm at its most beautiful—and music at its very best. 

Welcome to the Baltic Sea Festival 2026!