Cartagena Music Festival Runs 9 to 17 January 2027

COLOMBIA · FESTIVALS

The Cartagena Music Festival returns from Saturday 9 to Sunday 17 January 2027 for its 21st edition. The British-based English Chamber Orchestra is the resident orchestra, the organiser says.

Tickets are sold through TuBoleta, the official seller, and a bank presale opened on Monday 12 October. For US visitors, it is a chance to pair a Caribbean winter trip with concerts by international artists.

What the Cartagena Music Festival Is

The Cartagena Festival de Música is a classical music festival now in its 21st edition, organised by the Fundación Salvi, a Bogotá-based foundation. Its English name, used on its own website, is the Cartagena Music Festival.

Colombia’s Congress declared it part of the nation’s cultural heritage under Law 2340 of 2023, the festival says. The 20th edition in January 2026 drew 15,000 people, according to the organiser.

The 2027 edition was announced on 30 September under the title “The Divine Proportion: Music in Perfect Balance”. It is built around the golden ratio, the old idea of perfect proportion in art and architecture.

It is also the first edition under a new artistic director, the Colombian composer and producer Julio Reyes Copello. The festival describes him as the winner of several Grammy and Latin Grammy awards.

The Stars and the Programme

The Cartagena Music Festival opens on Saturday 9 January at the Teatro Adolfo Mejía with the English Chamber Orchestra under Andreas Ottensamer. Venezuelan pianist Gabriela Montero plays Ravel’s Piano Concerto.

The same night includes Vivaldi and Bach and the world premiere of a work by Reyes Copello. It is inspired by Love in the Time of Cholera, the novel by the Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez.

On Saturday 16 January, tenor Francesco Meli and soprano Benedetta Torre sing famous arias by Verdi, Donizetti and Puccini. They appear with the Filarmónica Joven de Colombia, the youth orchestra of the Fundación Bolívar Davivienda, under Francesco Lanzillotta.

Other guests named by the festival include Santiago Cañón Valencia, Elena Bashkirova, the Schumann Quartett and flautist Denis Bouriakov. Violinist Andrés Gabetta, harpsichordist Sebastian Wienand and viola da gamba player André Lislevand play Corelli and Biber on Sunday 10 January.

A strand called the Experiencia Gabo takes place in the Casa Gabriel García Márquez in Cartagena. New pieces by Latin American composers there draw on four of his books, including One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Pianist and neuroscientist Mei Rui, who directs the Music-in-Medicine programme at MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, joins the festival as well. The programme lists her sessions at the Palacio de la Proclamación on 16 and 17 January.

Venues and How to Get Around

The opening night and the opera evening are at the Teatro Adolfo Mejía, which runs its own season too, as our 2026 season report shows. Smaller concerts fill the chapels of the Santa Clara and Charleston Santa Teresa hotels.

Other venues include the Salón de La Veracruz at the Four Seasons, the Palacio de la Proclamación and the Casa Gabriel García Márquez. The festival also uses the Convention Centre, the Parque Lineal de Crespo, the Plaza de San Diego and the port.

The festival says it turns the walled city, Cartagena’s colonial centre, into its stage. Check the venue on each ticket, and use a booked ride for venues outside the centre.

Cartagena Music Festival concerts mostly start at 11 in the morning, 4 in the afternoon or 7 in the evening. Cartagena keeps the same clock as New York in January, so 7 in the evening there is 7 p.m. Eastern.

Tickets and Free Events

Cartagena Music Festival tickets are sold through TuBoleta, which lists each concert as a separate event. The festival also sells tickets in person at the Fundación Salvi office at Calle 70 #7-60, Office 304, in Bogotá.

Holders of Davivienda and DaviBank cards get 10% off when buying from Monday 12 to Wednesday 21 October 2026. Davivienda is a Colombian bank, and TuBoleta labels the current stage a Davivienda presale.

The festival runs a ticket line in English on WhatsApp at +57 314 461 6002. Its call centre in Bogotá is +57 601 593 6300.

Several events are free, according to the official programme. They include talks by Giovanni Bietti, a Convention Centre concert and a screening of the opening night in the Parque Lineal de Crespo.

The programme also lists the closing concert on Sunday 17 January at the Puerto de Cartagena as free entry. TuBoleta’s concert pages set a minimum age of 10, with doors opening an hour before the start.

Tips for US Visitors

The Cartagena Music Festival lists partner hotels on its website, which is worth checking before you book. Concert tickets are sold per event, so you can plan a short trip around one or two nights.

The US State Department rates Colombia at Level 3, Reconsider Travel, in an advisory dated 31 March 2026. It cites crime, terrorism, civil unrest, kidnapping and natural disasters.

The advisory says robbery is common in many areas, drugging occurs often in some regions and street crime happens nationwide. Watch your drink, keep valuables out of sight and use booked rides.

Bolívar, the department that includes Cartagena, is not on the advisory’s do-not-travel list. That list names Arauca, Cauca outside Popayán, Valle del Cauca outside Cali, Norte de Santander and the Venezuelan border zone.

What Is Not Confirmed Yet

Ticket prices for individual concerts are not shown on the festival’s TuBoleta pages. The date general sale opens after the Davivienda presale has not been announced either.

The programme carries a note that the calendar may change. Check the Cartagena Music Festival website and TuBoleta before you book flights around a single concert.

More: Colombia news in English, every day from The Rio Times.

Frequently Asked Questions

When is the Cartagena Music Festival 2027?

The Cartagena Music Festival runs from Saturday 9 to Sunday 17 January 2027. The opening concert is on 9 January at 7 p.m. at the Teatro Adolfo Mejía.

Where do I buy tickets?

TuBoleta is the official seller, with each concert listed separately. The festival also helps buyers in English on WhatsApp at +57 314 461 6002.

Are any Cartagena Music Festival events free?

Yes, the official programme marks several talks, a public screening of the opening concert and the closing concert at the port as free entry. The calendar may still change.

Sources: TuBoleta, Cartagena Festival de Música 2027 (official ticket seller, programme listing), accessed 13 October 2026; TuBoleta, Concierto inaugural: Fuego y geometría, accessed 13 October 2026; TuBoleta, La arquitectura de la voz italiana, accessed 13 October 2026; TuBoleta, La catedral del sonido, accessed 13 October 2026; Cartagena Festival de Música, XXI edition announcement, 30 September 2026; Cartagena Festival de Música, Boletería, accessed 13 October 2026; Cartagena Festival de Música, programme 2027 (PDF via TuBoleta), accessed 13 October 2026; Cartagena Festival de Música, homepage news item ‘Con 15.000 asistentes … celebró sus 20 años’ (14 January 2026), accessed 13 October 2026; US Department of State, Colombia Travel Advisory (Level 3), 31 March 2026; MD Anderson Cancer Center, faculty profile of Mei Rui, DMA, accessed 13 October 2026; US Department of State, travel advisories feed (Colombia, Level 3, 31 March 2026), accessed 13 October 2026.

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