Walser Autumn

WALSERHERBST 2025
THE ELEVENTH EDITION OF THE STEEPEST FESTIVAL IN THE MOUNTAINS WILL TAKE PLACE FROM 15 AUGUST TO 06 SEPTEMBER 2025.

From 15 August to 6 September 2025, Walserherbst will transform the Großes Walsertal into a stage for art and cultural experiences. For three weeks, the biennial festival invites you to enjoy the sound of churches, exhibitions in unusual locations, theatre at dawn, Schlickerbäder, workshops, mountain cinema, culinary delights and concerts in hay barns.
‘With Walserherbst, we want to build bridges between contemporary art, the impressive natural surroundings and the people in the villages of the valley,’ say festival directors Eugen Fulterer and Dietmar Nigsch. For the eleventh time, the festival is bringing a variety of art and music to the Großes Walsertal Biosphere Reserve - this year, a particularly large number of artists are coming from Switzerland, Poland and Scandinavia. "We want to create encounters that resonate for a long time. You could say we are curating memories," say the festival organisers. 

HEAVENLY OPENING 
On 15 August, the Feast of the Assumption, Walserherbst 2025 opens with a musical and literary concert under the banner of ‘Maria Superstar’. ‘The iconic Mother of God, the female figurehead of the Roman Catholic Church, is at the centre of artistic approaches using music and text,’ says music curator Evelyn Fink-Mennel. The parish church of the Immaculate Conception in Blons is the perfect venue.
Afterwards, the energetic Zéphyr Combo from Switzerland will get things moving. Named after the Greek god of wind, the ensemble brings just the right breeze to the festival opening with its humorous and cheerful music. And that's fitting, because when the Walser autumn arrives in the Große Walsertal, a different wind really does blow.

VIEWING TRIP AND MYSTICAL THEATRE
The popular viewing tour will take place again this year and will lead through the valley's towns and villages to solo and group exhibitions by over a dozen artists. Walserherbst once again largely dispenses with established exhibition spaces and instead uses empty spaces and buildings threatened by decay - such as the Gasthof Adler in Blons, which is about to be demolished. Seven artists from the Swiss Prättigau region are showing their works there.
Things get mystical with ‘Waldstück’, which is performed at dawn and in the evening. Two actors and two singers - again Swiss - whisk the audience away into the forest and a mysterious world full of sounds and stories. The opening weekend extends until Sunday and ends with a ‘Ringing Church’, performed by the duo Campanula.

INTERNATIONAL MUSIC: FROM POLAND TO THE HIGH NORTH
This year's Walserherbst once again brings top-class music from all over Europe to the valley. The Polish Janusz Prusinowski Kompania combines traditional and contemporary sounds and invites you to dance. The youth ensemble ‘Austrina’ from Riga will accompany the festival with their voices and the gentle tones of the kokle, the traditional Latvian plucked instrument, while the Lofoten Cello Duo will fill the Propsteikirche St. Gerold. Other highlights include the SchrammelBach duo, who interweave Viennese Heurigen music with compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach, and the musical hike to the Echo Wall at 1,500 metres above sea level, a soundscape that invites you to experiment.

PURISTIC WELLNESS: THE SCHLICKERBAD AN DER LUTZ
Festival visitors can relax in the unique Schlickerbad for a whole weekend. Clay construction expert Martin Rauch from Schlins and Pia Mackowitz fill the Lutz sulphur bath with silt, creating an unrivalled, purist wellness and nature experience on the banks of the roaring Lutz river. Elsewhere in the valley, enjoyment is not neglected either: a Walser hay barn opens its doors for ‘Auf'kocht & Auf'gspielt’ - a popular festival format that gives space to the influences of the participating artists. Sometimes Finnish, sometimes Polish, music is played and cooked together here. However, the atmospheric venue is not just for feasting and dancing - it also provides the perfect stage for reading performances and other contributions.

RADIX MUSIKWERKSTATT - EIN FESTIVAL IM FESTIVAL
Another highlight is the Radix music workshop, a creative music laboratory with international instructors. The grand finale is the big Radix Festival, where around 90 musicians make music together and send the entire valley into a frenzy of sound. Including: the band Orivesi All Stars from Finland. Under the direction of Antti Järvela, the ensemble celebrates its Austrian premiere - and accompanies the festival over several days.

THEATRE, MOUNTAIN CINEMA AND LITERATURE IN THE HEUSTALL
The popular clown Martha Laschkolnig once again roams through the biosphere park and makes the audience marvel and smile, while Maria Hofstätter touches the audience with her captivating reading performances of Christine Lavant's ‘Wechselbälgchen’ - accompanied by the music trio ‘Brot & Sterne’. Also on show: the stone sculptures ‘Mukwati Arts’ by Timothy Patrick Edwards from Zimbabwe, as well as European auteur cinema.

Programme and tickets from mid-July at www.walserherbst.at

WALSERHERBST is a biennial cultural festival in the Biosphere Park Großes Walsertal that combines tradition with contemporary art and culture. Under the direction of Dietmar Nigsch and Eugen Fulterer, it transforms the entire valley into a stage for three weeks. The program includes music, literature, theater, performance, film, photography, culinary arts, and handicrafts, and is known for its extraordinary events in unique locations.

The festival is deeply rooted in the region's traditions but consciously transcends boundaries and focuses on openness, encounters, and innovation. It has established itself as an important part of the national cultural calendar and attracts visitors to the most remote corners of the valley.

A particular focus is on music: the RADIX-MUSIKWERKSTATT, led by Evelyn Fink-Mennel, brings together musicians from various genres who are engaged in the evolution of folk music. Concerts, workshops, and dance events highlight current trends.

For more information and the 2025 program, visit www.walserherbst.at .

The program will be available online on their homepage from July 15, 2025.