Every May for two and a half weeks, Dresden Music Festival, Germany's most popular classical music festival, captivates international audiences with concerts in the city's finest venues.

Germany's greatest classical music festival
Every year around 100,000 music connoisseurs descend on Dresden. They come to hear distinguished international soloists and ensembles and the finest orchestras in Dresden performing operas, ballets, orchestral works and chamber music, as well as jazz and world music concerts. Events are staged in all the important theatres and concert halls of this city famed for its culture.

The recently restored Frauenkirche, Church of Our Lady, is a highlight of any visit to Dresden. Theaterplatz square is graced by the Zwinger Palace, the most important late-baroque building in Germany, the opulent Semper Opera House, the Residenz Palace with its stables and "Procession of Dukes", a frieze of Meissen tiles, and the cathedral. Outer Neustadt, Dresden's pub and club quarter, is well worth a visit, as is Pfunds Molkerei, the "most beautiful dairy shop in the world". Or you could head for the three palaces along the Elbe and the historical mountain railway in Loschwitz.

The Dresden State Orchestra and the Dresden Philharmonic rank among the top orchestras in the world, and the Kreuzchor boys' choir enjoys similar status. . More than 20 theatres in the city offer plenty of choice, from classical drama to experimental theatre, from musicals to cabaret.