Ten Years Reeperbahn Festival Hamburg: Finally arrived at the international agenda
Ten Years Reeperbahn Festival Hamburg: Finally arrived at the international agenda
32.000 visitors from 40 nations, 400 concerts, 200 events and 220 conference items transformed the district of St. Pauli / Hamburg during the last days into Europe´s most creative neighborhood. The Reeperbahn Festival celebrated its tenth anniversary from September 23 to 26 and confirmed its status as Europe´s largest club music festival and hotspot for the international music- and digital industry.
Peter Smid, founder and Director of Eurosonic/Norderslaag puts it in a nutshell: “You won´t get rid of it anymore”. This laconic assessment reflects what international media and professional visitors have long agreed upon: The Reeperbahn Festival has become an integral element of the international music world! “We are of course pleased, but at the same time we are well aware of the responsibility and the challenge this position involves,” explains the Reeperbahn Festival founder and Managing Director Alexander Schulz. “In many annual diaries of most of our colleagues we are a fixed date.” In fact: Over 3,700 participating professional and media representatives from 40 nations mean an increase compared to the year before. Detlef Schwarte, in charge of the Reeperbahn Festival Conference describes the conference programme, also extended, including 220 events such as panels, workshops and networking events as a “pleasant development”. The largest delegations of professional visitors came from the UK, Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Finland. Bjørn Pfarr, responsible for the music programme, points out that young bands and artists celebrating their Europe or Germany premieres at the Reeperbahn Festival already filled big venues. This year a particularly high share of electronic music was part of the programme.
Since its launch in 2006 the Reeperbahn Festival Hamburg has developed into a must-attend event for national and international music fans and music industry professionals. This is hardly surprising given the festival’s programme of more than 600 events. The festival’s carefully selected mix of well-established music-acts and exciting newcomers has always ensured a consistently high level of quality. This year Reeperbahn festivalgoers have seen acts like Rudimental, James Morrisson, Wanda, Family Of The Year and William Fitzsimmons. Once again, more than 600 events (consisting of 400 concerts, 220 conference programme items and over 50 offers from the field of visual arts, literature and film) took place at more than 70 venues like classical music clubs, bars, boats, churches, and museums. Special focus was placed on the St. Pauli clubhouse newly opened with the Reeperbahn Festival 2015, providing six new venues in the centre of the Reeperbahn, on Hamburg’s landmark, St. Michaelis Church, better known as the “Michel”, as well as the 'resonance chamber' (resonanzraum) at the bunker in Feldstrasse, used as a venue for the first time in 2015.
After the first international cooperation with AusFinnland! this year, the Reeperbahn Festival announces the Netherlands as their partner country for 2016. “We were pleased to have a focal country and are looking forward to cooperating with our long-time friends of Dutch Impact, represented by Ruud Berends, next year. Thanks to the outstanding work of Ruud and his organisation an unprecedented number of Dutch bands and artists have become well established not only in Germany but also all over Europe in the past five years – these are almost Scandinavian conditions!” says Alexander Schulz.
“If you want to introduce a Dutch artist to the German market, there is only one place to do this: The Reeperbahn Festival. We are very proud of being the focal country of the Reeperbahn Festival next year. I’m looking forward to a very successful cooperation,” says Ruud Berends, Producer Dutch Impact.
The next Reeperbahn Festival will take place from 21 – 24 Sept. 2016 - more information: www.reeperbahnfestival.com.
Media Service:
- Press photos: https://www.reeperbahnfestival.com/en/media/press-photos, more information about the festival: https://www.reeperbahnfestival.com/en/media.
- More about music an Hamburg: https://marketing.hamburg.de/music.html
Kontakt / contact:
Hamburg Marketing GmbH
Media Relations
Guido Neumann
Wexstrasse 7, D-20355 Hamburg
Phone: +49(0)40 300 51 580
Cell: +49(0)160 97298302
guido.neumann@marketing.hamburg.de