Munich Residenz concert: booking

What the concert is

The concert is about an hour of classical music in the court chapel, the Hofkapelle, of Munich's Residenz, the palace where Bavaria's dukes, electors and kings lived from 1508 to 1918. The organiser, Bavaria Klassik, presents it with a group it calls the Residenz Soloists. Programmes change from date to date, and the organiser names Bach, Vivaldi, Haydn and Mozart among the composers. Guests describe small groups, from a duo to three players, and one mentions commentary from a musician. Dates and start times are listed in the calendar, and the confirmation repeats the time. An hour is short, so the concert pairs well with a meal in the old town.

The room you are buying

Maximilian I had the two-storey chapel built in 1601–1603 and added the choir in 1630. The court gathered on the ground floor, while the ruling family followed the daily Mass from galleries that led from their apartments. White plaster ornament covers the walls and the vault, and the high altar holds Hans Werl's painting of the Virgin in glory beneath the Trinity. The palace says museum visitors may enter only the gallery, so a concert is the other way into the room. Guests on the booking page praise the acoustics. If a stone room made for a court appeals more than a modern concert hall, that is the point of this ticket. The history guide tells the room's story in full.

Read next: The Residenz court chapel explained

Who organises it

Bavaria Klassik GmbH is named as the activity provider. The Residenz is run by the Bavarian Palace Administration, which is a separate body, and this site is independent of both. A ticket is a concert admission only: food, drink and a museum visit are not part of it, and the way to the chapel is yours to plan. Take museum questions, such as opening hours, to the palace. Take concert questions, such as the players, the programme or a refund, to the booking page. Mixing the two up wastes time, because each body can answer only for its own part of the evening. The organiser's own site lists the series and the special concerts, which makes it the place to read up on the music before you choose.

Which date to choose

The date decides the programme. The organiser lists Bach, Vivaldi, Haydn and Mozart for its regular concerts, and the calendar entry for a date frequently names the players and the pieces. If one composer is the reason you are going, book a date that names him. If you want an hour of live music in a historic room, almost any evening will serve, and you can arrange it around your other plans. Treat the booking page as the only dependable programme, since the organiser rotates them weekly and one evening's pieces may not match the next. Compare two or three dates before settling, and if the chapel itself is the draw, pick the date that suits your travel plans best.

Advent, Christmas, New Year and Good Friday

The booking page lists special concerts at Advent, Christmas, New Year's Eve and Good Friday, with festive programmes that may use flute and harp or a string quartet. The organiser calls its Advent and Christmas evenings contemplative, and describes the Christmas concert and the New Year's Eve concert as one-hour programmes for the whole family. It says flute, harp and trombone appear in most of the special programmes. Book early if one of these dates matters to you. The chapel is cold in winter, and the organiser says so more than once, so the festive evenings are the ones for which a warm coat matters most.

Two listings for one chapel

This site shows three cards. The first is the concert this guide describes. The second is a separate listing for Bavaria Klassik's Residenz Palace concert, played by the Residenz Soloists in the same old court chapel. It has its own rating, fare and notes, and it mentions museum entrance, so read its page before assuming what your option includes. The two listings can differ on price and on what is bundled. Open both calendars for your date, compare the lines under the heading for inclusions and choose whichever matches the evening you have in mind. Both give free cancellation up to 24 hours ahead, so you can hold one while you check the other.

Compared with a church concert

The third card is a concert at the Asamkirche, a Late Baroque church built from 1733 to 1746 by the brothers Egid Quirin and Cosmas Damian Asam, with guitar and organ. The two evenings are different kinds of room. The Residenz chapel is a white stucco space made for a court, with a small chamber group. The Asamkirche was built by a sculptor and a painter, and it is known for its ceiling fresco and its sculpted decoration. The programme there is built around guitar and organ. If you want the palace and its history, choose the chapel. If you want a Baroque church interior, choose the Asamkirche. Nothing stops you from booking both on different evenings of one stay.

What guests say

Reading the reviews on the booking page, the pattern is clear. Guests praise the musicians, the acoustics and the setting, and one mentions commentary from a musician between pieces. The complaints are practical. Some found the entrance hard to find, one calling the sign very small, and two wrote that the chapel was cold. One guest wished for Christmas lighting to match the season, and another for heaters. None of this argues against going. It argues for arriving early, dressing warmly and choosing a date with a programme you like, which is the advice this guide gives throughout. The rating stands at 4.4 from 108 reviews at the time of writing.

Tickets and arrival

Tickets are collected at the box office at the chapel about 30 minutes before the concert and are reserved under your name. That matters if you are running late, since the collection window comes before the start. The booking page gives the address as Residenzstraße 1, and the Residenz is a very large complex, so confirm the meeting point in your confirmation before you set out. Several guests found the entrance difficult to locate and the sign small. Allow time, and treat the 30-minute window as the time to arrive, not as the time to start looking. The practical guide on this site covers the route and the stops.

Read next: Residenz concert: entrance and cold

Cancelling and paying later

Through GetYourGuide you can cancel without charge up to 24 hours before the concert starts, and the fare is not due at booking. That helps when a trip is still taking shape, and it lets you hold a winter date early. Those terms apply to a booking made through GetYourGuide; a purchase directly from the organiser would follow its own rules. Once the final 24 hours begin, a refund should not be expected. Look at the cancellation line for your date before relying on it. If you change dates, cancel and rebook, rather than arriving on the wrong evening. Keep the confirmation email until after the concert, since the box office holds your tickets under the name used for the booking.

Who this isn't for

This is not the ticket for a palace tour, because the museum is a separate visit with its own admission. It is not for anyone hoping for a large orchestra, since the chapel hosts a small ensemble. People who dislike cold rooms in winter will struggle, and so will anyone who cannot reach the box office ahead of the concert. If you want a heated hall and a programme printed months in advance, look elsewhere. At about an hour, the concert works best as one part of an evening, not the whole of it. Pair it with dinner, a walk through the old town or a visit to the palace's courtyards in daylight.