Croatia's oldest early-music festival opens on 18 September with the countertenor Philippe Jaroussky in Varaždin cathedral and runs twelve days: 28 concerts, 17 of them in the baroque town itself, the rest in churches and castles of the north. Dates, venues, where to sit and how to book.
Checked: 3 September 2026
Varaždin has held its baroque festival every September since 1971, and it fits the town like nothing else: the palaces, the cathedral and the castle were built in the same century as the music. The 2026 edition runs from Friday 18 to Tuesday 29 September, twelve days with 28 concerts and musicians from seventeen countries. Seventeen concerts take place in Varaždin itself, the other eleven in churches, castles and towns of northern Croatia, so the festival doubles as a tour of the region for anyone with a car.
The evenings to plan around
- 18.09.Opening: Philippe Jaroussky and B'Rock Orchestra, cathedral
One of the best-known countertenors of his generation, with the Belgian period orchestra, under the stucco vault of the Assumption cathedral. This is the concert that sells out first.
- 19.09.Stefan Milenković: Eight Seasons
The violinist plays Vivaldi's Four Seasons and Piazzolla's four Buenos Aires seasons back to back with the Varaždin Chamber Orchestra. The most approachable evening of the festival.
- 20.09. bis 28.09.The middle days: churches, palaces and the region
Chamber concerts in the Franciscan and Ursuline churches, in the palaces around the main square and in towns from Čakovec to Krapina. The Total Baroque fringe adds free events in the streets.
- 29.09.Closing: awards and the students' concert
The Ivan Lukačić, Jurica Murai and Vladimir Kranjčević awards are handed out, then the pupils of the Varaždin music school play with the Chamber Orchestra, a tradition older than most of the audience.
Tickets, seats and the town around them
Tickets are sold by the Varaždin concert office, online through vbv.hr and at the box office on the main square, with festival passes for those who stay the full twelve days. Cathedral concerts have unnumbered seating in the nave: come thirty minutes early and sit in the first third, where the sound is direct and the ceiling frescoes are above you. Concerts start at 8 pm and last about ninety minutes without a break, and the town's cafés on the square stay open afterwards. Varaždin is ninety minutes from Zagreb by car or bus, the old town is car-free, and the parking garages by the Kapucinski trg are a five-minute walk from every venue.
Make it a weekend. The castle with its museum, the town cemetery laid out as a park, and the palaces along Franjevački trg fill the daytime, and a table at one of the restaurants on Trg kralja Tomislava is the right place to wait for eight o'clock. Our Varaždin one-day guide has the walk.
Frequently asked questions
- When do the Varaždin Baroque Evenings 2026 start?
- On Friday 18 September 2026 with the opening concert in the cathedral, and they end on Tuesday 29 September with the awards evening and the closing concert.
- Do I need to know baroque music to enjoy it?
- No. Pick a concert in the cathedral or in the castle courtyard, arrive early for a seat with a view of the vault, and let the acoustics do the work. Vivaldi's Four Seasons on 19 September is the easiest entry.
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