Festivals for City Folk—Bustling Places to Enjoy the World’s Greatest Music

By David Templeton | From the March/April 2026 issue of Strings

Sitting down to a concert by a world-class string player is an exceptional experience. Therefore, taking a seat at not just one but multiple concerts over the course of several days is obviously an exponential improvement on an already memorable moment. And if you add the element of place and location, staging those concerts in one of the great cities of the world, then the result can be simply unforgettable, even life changing. 

That’s what can happen at a well-run music festival presented in a truly beautiful place. Here are six such festivals taking place annually in Europe and the United States.

Ravinia Festival

Chicago, Illinois, June–August, 2026, ravinia.org

Having debuted in 1905 in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park, the annual Ravinia Festival—which just celebrated its 120th anniversary—is one of the oldest and longest-lasting indoor-outdoor music celebrations in the United States. Stretching from June to August each year and featuring a strategically miscellaneous array of musical genres and styles, the celebrated summertime festival routinely draws more than 600,000 people, with more than 100 individual concerts running over three magnificent months.

Borrowing its name from Highland Park’s Ravinia neighborhood—its own name a playful nod to the many steep lakeside ravines nearby—the festival takes place in the 36-acre Ravinia Park, within walking distance of Highland Park’s thriving Ravinia Business District, a draw for its numerous restaurants and shops. 

The Ravinia Festival makes use of a number of venues, the largest of which—the 3,350-seat Pavilion—has served as the summertime home of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra since 1936. Boasting a regular lineup of major musical names (Alison Krauss & Union Station has already been announced for 2026), the festival is a major draw for classical and string fans, with numerous large symphony concerts scheduled along with smaller programs, such as the 850-seat Martin Theatre’s chamber music and opera performances and the popular Martinis at the Martin cabaret series.

A Metra station directly in front of the park provides easy, accessible transportation from the heart of Chicago. 

Savannah Music Festival

Savannah, Georgia, March 25–April 5, 2026, savannahmusicfestival.org

Taking place over 12 jam-packed days in a half dozen venues around Savannah—the oldest city in Georgia, known for its rich culture, cobblestoned streets, architectural beauty, and deep American history—the Savannah Music Festival draws adventurous sound seekers from all over the world each spring. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution describes it as “one of the Southeast’s most accessible festivals.” It adds, “It is this kind of experimental but intuitive programming that gives the Savannah Fest its improvisational gusto.”

Traditionally scheduled for the end of March and beginning of April, the 37-year-old festival blends classical performance with a dizzying variety of musical risk taking. With a little careful planning, a visitor can experience world-class jazz, country, bluegrass, Americana, chamber music, and more, all within the same day or two. 

Kicking off in 1989 with the mission “To present exceptional live music that entertains, educates, inspires, and unites communities,” the festival is as renowned for the historic beauty of its venues—from the 175-year-old Trinity United Methodist Church and the nearly-300-year-old Trustees Garden to the nautically focused Ships of the Sea Maritime Museum and the landmark Lucas Theatre for the Arts—as it is for the eclecticism of its programming.

At the 2026 festival, highlights will include appearances by the Infamous Stringdusters, Escher String Quartet, the Yonder Mountain String Band, and a performance of Elgar’s “Enigma Variations” by the Savannah Philharmonic Orchestra. The festival’s associate artistic director Philip Dukes, a British violist, will lead four separate concerts of chamber music, including performances of Mendelssohn’s Octet for Strings in E-flat major, Brahms’ Piano Quartet No. 3, and selections by Johnny Mercer. 

The BBC Proms

London, England, July–September 2026, bbc.co.uk/proms

Officially titled the Henry Wood Promenade Concerts, the 130-year-old music festival known popularly as the Proms takes place in London for eight weeks every summer. Born of the rising “promenade” concert movement of the 1800s, in which informal strolling-and-listening concerts were presented in English “pleasure gardens,” the annual series began in 1895 at the Queens Hall in Langham Place and now unfolds every July and August (sometimes reaching into September) at London’s Royal Albert Hall and Cadogan Hall, among other smaller venues, in this vibrant European cultural hub. 

Founded by the famous impresario Robert Newman and the English conductor Henry Wood, the Proms has been produced by the BBC since 1927 and is regularly broadcast on the network throughout the UK and the world. From the start, the Proms was designed to inspire a love of great music. “I am going to run nightly concerts and train the public by easy stages,” proclaimed Newman, proposing the notion to Wood in 1894. He suggested that the festival’s programming showcase popular music at first, then “gradually rais[e] the standard until I have created a public for classical and modern music.”

With orchestras and ensembles from around the world presenting nightly concerts featuring a heavy dose of classical music and splashes of other styles and disciplines, last year’s Proms included a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 7, with John Storgårds conducting the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Orchestre National de France, with American violinist Randall Goosby, presenting an evening of French compositions including Chausson’s Poème and Joseph Bologne’s Violin Concerto in G major, Op. 8. 

The Salzburg Festival

Salzburg, Austria, July 17–August 30, 2026, salzburgerfestspiele.at/en

Originally conceived as a celebration of theater, opera, and Austrian music, the very first Salzburg Festival launched with an adaptation of the 15th-century mystery play Everyman, with a script by Austrian novelist Hugo von Hofmannsthal and music by Einar Nilson. 

The year was 1920. The composer Richard Strauss was among the original champions of the festival, along with Austrian conductor Franz Schalk. Briefly canceled in 1944 by the Third Reich, during its annexation of Austria, the festival returned in full force after the Allied Forces claimed victory. Today, the Salzburg Festival draws thousands of visitors annually to this historic and picturesque city, with its copper spires, museums, palaces, medieval and Baroque architecture, and surrounding mountains. 

The summertime festival has gradually made the classical composer a focus of its programming. A series of Mozart Matinees is among the festival’s more popular offerings and, not surprisingly, rarely does a year go by without at least one performance of music or an opera by founder Richard Strauss. 

Music@Menlo Chamber Music Festival

San Francisco Bay Area, California, July 17–August 8, 2026 , musicatmenlo.org

Since 2003, when cellist David Finckel (formerly of the Emerson String Quartet) and pianist Wu Han founded the Music@Menlo Chamber Music Festival, the relatively small, tightly focused annual event has earned a sparkling reputation across the country. 

The festival is held in the summer, primarily on the campus of the Menlo School, a private college-preparatory school in Atherton, California. The spacious school setting is more than just a convenience, since classical music education is a major piece of the festival’s annual structure, with popular onstage public master classes and a series of smaller instructional opportunities for students. 

“Music@Menlo stands apart from other chamber festivals in its emphasis on innovation,” according to American Public Media in a description of the festival back in its early years, adding, “The festival trains young, talented musicians by introducing them to highly respected musicians who are not only ensemble coaches but also mentors in how to be forward-thinking, professional musicians.”

Every year, Finckel and Han—who will be stepping down as artistic directors after the 2026 festival—select and announce a musical theme that is carried throughout the festival. Over the last 23 years, those themes have included “Beethoven: Center of Gravity” (2005), “Being Mendelssohn” (2009), “Russian Reflections” (2016), “The Glorious Violin” (2017), and “Haydn Connections” (2022). Nightly concerts featuring some of the world’s greatest quartets and ensembles draw audiences from around the San Francisco Bay Area. With nearby beaches, mountains, cultural attractions, and globally acclaimed cuisine, Music@Menlo represents the perfect combination of elements that make it a can’t-miss destination for lovers of classical music.