Xanten Summer Festival

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The Xanten Summer Festival was the name given to an open - air event organized annually between 1993 and 2012 - mostly between June and August - by “ Arena-Theater GmbH ” in the reconstructed amphitheater of Colonia Ulpia Traiana in the Archaeological Park in Xanten , in front of the gates of St. Viktor's Cathedral and at the open-air stage in Birten with a changing program of ballet , concerts , musicals , operas and theater .

Development of the summer festival

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Amphitheater in the APX
Xanten Cathedral

The 1983 Summer Festival was held for the first time with Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake in the partially reconstructed Roman arena of the APX . The unusual backdrop of the amphitheater and the associated atmosphere then became a “ crowd puller ” when, in the following years, Ivan Rebroff , the Moscow Bolshoi Ballet and Mikis Theodorakis, among others , shaped the program of the summer festival.

The organizational highlight of the summer festival so far was the performance of Giuseppe Verdi's opera Aida with well over 250 participants on the 20th anniversary in 2002. In addition to performances of Aram Chatschaturjan's Spartacus and Franz Lehár's The Tsarevich in the amphitheater, the open-air stage in Birten was among other things with the performance of Carl Maria von Weber's Der Freischütz was added to the program as a venue. In line with demand, the number of spectator seats in the amphitheater was increased, which now offers around 2,500 seats and, depending on the event, standing room for 4,000.

From 2003, the Xanten Cathedral became part of the summer festival on the occasion of the 775th anniversary of the awarding of Xanten's city ​​rights , with Hugo von Hofmannsthal's Jedermann being performed on the Domplatz . Since 2006, the program has also been expanded to include two events for children aged 3 and over.

As a result of the success of the Summer Festival, the APX arena established itself outside the festival as a venue, especially for concerts and musicals .

Summer Festival 2005

Summer Festival 2006

Summer Festival 2007

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