Since 2021, the festival has been taking place entirely in Iserlohn again - the central locations of the festival 2026 is the Music-School Iserlohn with it’s beautiful 19th-century building. All guitar lessons, the lectures and the rehearsals with the guitar ensemble (with Gerald Garcia) as well as the exhibitions of the luthiers will take place here. All other festival locations (hotels, restaurants, concert venue) are within walking distance in the center of Iserlohn.

Home of the festival: the Music-School Iserlohn.

Lessons in the Music-School Iserlohn.

All evening concerts take place in the renovated Oberste Stadtkirche Iserlohn.

All participants and lecturers stay in four hotels (different price categories), which are four-five minutes walk from all festival locations. Lunch and dinner are offered in three restaurants in the immediate vicinity of the festival locations. There are also numerous cafés and snack restaurants close to all festival venues.

Interior view of the Iserlohn music school.

Master classes, lectures, exhibitions and Gerald Garcia's ensemble take place in the Music School Iserlohn (five minutes walk from the Oberste Stadtkirche).

The 15_th Guitar Competition will take place in the first two rounds (Monday and Wednesday). The final of the competition (Friday, 7.00 p.m.) will take place as a public concert in the Oberste Stadtkirche Iserlohn.

We strongly recommend that festival participants register by April 30th, 2026 at the latest, as the hotel capacities may then be full - a maximum of 130 active participants will be admitted. Deadline for the Duo-Competition is March 31st, 2026.

Hotels have to be booked and paid for independently - there is an attractive special rate for festival visitors.

In the restaurants, all participants pay for themselves – we have also negotiated special rates here.

The fee for attending the festival (three or four hours of active instruction / all concerts, exhibitions, lectures, technique and ensemble instruction) is 110 or 160 euros. The fee for the festival and competition is 170 euros.

Festival participants have free admission to all concerts.

Tickets for visitors to the concerts as part of the 33rd Iserlohn Guitar Festival 2026 are available from May 2, 2026 at the Iserlohn city information center at the train station (Tel. +49/ 2371 / 217-1819).

Comparison of guitar makers.

The festival features the 15^th Guitar Competition (solo), concerts and lessons with many internationally known artists.

A public comparison test with all guitar makers will take place on Tuesday (July 28th) and Thursday (Juli 29th) at 4.30 p.m. in the Muiskschule Iserlohn. The 16^th Int. Guitar competition (solo) takes place in three rounds on Monday, July 27th (9.00 a.m. – 5.00 p.m.), Wednesday, July 29th (2nd round from 9.30 a.m. – 3.00 p.m.), and on Friday, July 31st, 2026 (final in the Oberste Stadtkirche Iserlohn at 7 p.m.).