Christian Kuhnt

Tuesday, 29 April 2025 - Workshop Arts Festivals Summit 2025

Christian Kuhnt was born in Mainz. He studied musicology in Frankfurt am Main and Hamburg. In 1996, he was a fellow of the Kurt Weill Foundation for Music in New York. In addition to his subsequent employment in the record industry, he wrote his doctoral thesis on ‘Kurt Weill and Judaism’. From 1997 to 2007, he worked for the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival (SHMF), serving as its Director of Artistic Planning. In addition, he served as consultant for concerts held at the Laeiszhalle Hamburg from 2005 to 2007. On October 1, 2007, Christian Kuhnt took the helm of Konzertdirektion Dr. Rudolf Goette, which orchestrated concert series in Hamburg, Bremen, Braunschweig and Osnabrück. As of October 2013, he has served as Director for the SHMF. 

His work is focussed on further developing this festival while preserving its original character. Under his leadership, the SHMF grew to become Germany's largest music festival, with around 190,000 visitors and 200 concerts at 125 venues. In addition, under his directorship, the SHMF was able to expand beyond the range of classical concerts to become a cross-genre event. With a self-financing ratio of over 90%, Christian Kuhnt is responsible not only for the programme but also for the financial development of the festival, which is organised as a non-profit foundation.

To give as many people as possible access to the emotional value of music is one of Christian Kuhnt's most urgent aims. This is achieved by taking the festival concerts to the people in their respective regions. The SHMF combines the local charm of rural areas with internationality and the highest musical standards. Communication with a large network of volunteers, the more than 8,000 members of the friends' association and about 150 companies that support the SHMF as sponsors also ensures that people identify strongly with their festival.