This year, the 12th Balloon Festival will take place in a "light" version in the Rheinaue of Bonn. Due to the Corona pandemic, the supporting programme with family party, model balloons and gastronomy cannot take place. Instead, only the balloon rides will start from the flower meadow into the sunrise and sunset. The festival will be opened on Friday, 4 p.m., with a launch of all participating hot-air balloons.

Much is known about the composer's life, but by no means everything: A secret correspondence between Beethoven and Goethe forms the starting point of the opera, which tells the story of a rich but unhappy king's son. In love with a poor circus artist, young Beethoven learns what makes life really meaningful. The "Lost Work" combines music and acrobatics, blurring reality and fiction.

Loriot is regarded as the old master of German humour, his sketches have made television history. The comedic ensemble of the Contra-Kreis-Theater brings his "dramatic works", consisting of 13 sketches, to the stage.

"Live together, grow together" is the motto of this year's Intercultural Week. It thus fits in with a time when solidarity in society is particularly important. Already started on 18 September, the last lectures and concerts dealing with cultural diversity will take place on Friday and Saturday. On Saturday, visitors can experience a musical journey from the Balkans to the Orient.

Whether young or old, everyone knows ABBA. The international production "ABBA Review" with musicians from Sweden, England, Germany, Poland and Malaysia will be a guest in Bonn on Saturday, taking us back to the early 1980s. The live programme of the tribute band ranges from the rocking "Waterloo" to the Discofox classic "Dancing Queen", to Rock'n Roll à la "So long".

The antique and flea market in the centre of Bad Godesberg is a well-known address for treasure hunters. Whether antique furniture, books, porcelain or clothing - there is something for everyone here. Admission is free.

The production "Klassik meets Musical" unites two seemingly irreconcilable genres and blurs their boundaries. The trio, consisting of the musicians Trio Patrick Stanke, Tamara Peters and Florian Albers, presents an exciting composition from the great arias of the opera to modern duets from, among others, Dance of the Vampires, La Bohemé or Phantom of the Opera.

The Pantheon's lounge is regularly young, colourful and noisy when up-and-coming poets between the ages of ten and 20 venture into the microphone. But only one can win the first U-20 slam in the region.

(Original text: ga / Translation: Mareike Graepel)