Bolzano Festival Bozen is the annual classical music highlight in Bolzano. This year, the festival will bring together the city's excellent organisers of musical events for the seventh time: Antiqua, a festival for early music, Bolzano's two resident orchestras, the European Union Youth Orchestra (EUYO) and the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester (GMJO), the International Piano Competition Ferrucio Busoni, including its own piano festival, as well as the Gustav Mahler Academy.
Every year, they come up with a varied programme, whose common denominator has been "music and youth" ever since the festival was established. For over 30 years, the EUYO and GMJO have demonstrated the great achievements of Europe's talented musical youth when it is able to work under the best conditions and under the direction of great conductors and soloists. 
The Ferrucio Busoni International Piano Competition is one of the most important events of its kind in the world. This year, the competition is presenting its own piano festival for the fifth time in its successful 60-year-old existence. Antiqua has always excelled in its ability to discover budding interpreters of early music. The Gustav Mahler Academy, founded by Claudio Abbado, is a talent factory for prospective orchestral musicians. At Bolzano Festival Bozen, these accomplished interpreters of select chamber music always demonstrate that they are also highly-motivated team players in the final orchestral performance. The abundance of concerts will be rounded off by an open-air concert by the Haydn Orchestra of Bolzano and Trento, by a tribute to C.P.E. Bach by the Bolzano String Academy, and by a special concert organised by Musica in Aulis, featuring Busoni prize winner Anna Kravtchenko.