The Friedrich Stellwagen Organ Festival is the only festival in Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania featuring music from the Gothic to the Baroque periods.
On Wednesday, August 26, 2026, at 7:00 p.m. at St. Marien in Stralsund, the “Friedrich Stellwagen Organ Festival” will open, featuring a series of high-caliber musical events through August 30 with soloists from France, Spain, Poland, the Czech Republic, and Germany.
This year’s festival—the only one in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern specializing in early music—aims above all to provide insight into the diversity of Renaissance and Baroque music in various European musical centers.
The opening concert on August 26 at 7:00 p.m. in St. Mary’s Church will feature Thomas Ospital from Paris, one of the most sought-after organ virtuosos of our time. Born in the Basque Country in 1990, the artist studied in Paris and has won first prizes at numerous international competitions. He was appointed titular organist of the Church of St. Eustache in Paris in 2015 and has also served as organist in residence at Radio France since 2016. In 2017, he was appointed to a professorship at the legendary Paris Conservatory. On the Stellwagen organ, he will perform famous compositions by Guilan, Buxtehude, and Bach, as well as an original improvisation of his own. Thomas Ospital’s organ recital is generously sponsored by the Rotary Club of Stralsund. Tickets priced at 10.00 and 7.00 euros will be available at the box office starting at 6:30 p.m.
Further “highlights” await guests of the “Friedrich Stellwagen Organ Days” on Thursday, August 27, and Friday, August 28. Concerts will take place at 7:00 p.m. on both days at St. Marien.
On Thursday, August 27 (concert at 7:00 p.m., doors open at 6:30 p.m., tickets 10,-/7,-Euro), an extraordinary keyboard instrument will be featured in the restored north tower hall of St. Mary’s Church. Tomas Flegr from Prague will perform on a magnificent harpsichord, which is a meticulous replica of a richly decorated original instrument from 1769 by Pascal Taskin. Typical of French Baroque harpsichords is their deep, resonant, and magnificently rich sound. Tomas Flegr has selected music by Purcell, Rameau, Balbastre, and Bach for his program. Following the concert, guests are invited to linger over wine by candlelight.
Then, on Friday, August 28, at 7:00 p.m., Tomas Flegr—a true specialist in historical keyboard instruments—will perform a solo organ recital on the Stellwagen organ at St. Mary’s Church. His program is a “Musical Journey Through Europe,” with stops in the Netherlands, England, Spain, Poland, Austria, Italy, and Germany. The compositions of Hassler, Sweelinck, Valente, de Arauxo, Scheidemann, and others will resound on Stellwagen’s masterpiece in a wide variety of sounds. Tickets priced at 10 and 7 euros will be available at the box office starting at 6:30 p.m.
At an organ matinee on Sunday, August 30, at 11:45 a.m., the St. Mary’s organist will present a program that introduces listeners to the organ music of Johann Sebastian Bach and his circle. In addition to works by the Thomaskantor himself, the Stellwagen organ will feature music by his colleagues and students Garthoff, Kuhnau, Werckmeister, Schneider, Walther, and Kirchhoff. Admission is free.
The closing concert of the Organ Days will take place on Sunday, August 30, at 7:00 p.m., featuring two excellent, internationally renowned soloists: Josue Melendez (cornetto) and Krzysztof Urbaniak (organ). The rare combination of the cornetto—a wind instrument typical of the Renaissance and early Baroque periods—with the organ promises a special musical experience. Both musicians are professors at the Bremen University of the Arts, which specializes in early music, and have gained recognition through their international concert careers in Europe, Asia, and the U.S. For the concert evening in Stralsund, they have selected compositions by Sweelinck, Neunhaber, Merula, Tunder, and Buxtehude. Concert tickets priced at 12 and 9 euros will be available at the box office starting at 6:30 p.m. (Martin Rost, cantor at St. Marien Church in Stralsund)
