Congés Annulés festival 2025 at Rotondes; Credit: Mike Zenari

On Wednesday 25 March 2026, Rotondes, the multi-function venue complex in Luxembourg-Bonnevoie, published its activity report for 2025.

In the report Rotondes reflected on the start of the operational phase of the renovation works at Rotonde 1, which began in 2025. The venue noted that, internally, it is making use of this transitional phase to bring its team together around the development of a values charter and an action plan, which they remarked will “contribute to the collective construction of the Rotondes of tomorrow”.

In terms of programming, Rotondes revealed they have adopted a “dynamic of experimentation” and strengthened its cooperation network in order to continue its missions regardless of the ongoing architectural constraints. This included the publishing of the Wimmelbuch Rotondes, a picture book released in January 2025, which features illustrations by Luxembourg artist Viktoria Mladenovski.

The publication was accompanied by a varied festive programme which included a live illustrated concert bringing together the artist, electronic duo Napoleon Gold and multi-instrumentalist Jérôme Klein, and the hosting of two creative workshops, designed to continue the professional development of primary school teachers and participation in the Children's and Youth Book Day.

Rotondes noted that despite the ongoing renovation work at Rotonde 1 depriving it of the capacity of the Grande Salle, its performing arts department fully utilised the sites Black Box venue and presented performances outside its walls. In total, 130 performances of seventeen productions were staged by the department in 2025, welcoming nearly 8,000 spectators.

Rotondes also continued its work as a producer, with two creations, the performance Coperta and the film-concert PLAY (a co-production with the Luxembourg City Film Festival), as well as the international distribution of the performance Minuit, and the hosting of numerous creative workshops and post-show discussions.

In the field of contemporary music, the 2025 programme featured 68 concerts from 122 artists and groups. The summer season also saw the annual Congés Annulés festival, which attracted more than 9,000 people to the venue’s forecourt and Klub location. Rotondes also played an active and ongoing role in organising the Out of the Crowd festival at the Kulturfabrik in Esch.

Due to the ongoing renovation works, the hosting of the 5th edition of LEAP (The Luxembourg Encouragement for Artists Prize) was passed to Konschthal and Bridderhaus, while Rotondes remained partners of the prize. However, the record fair (both with and at Schluechthaus), the We Ride bike project and the Last-Minute Mini Christmas Market with the Buvette by De Gudde Wëllen were all successfully hosted at the Rotondes site.

Rotondes also noted its ongoing participation with the GRACE project, launched by the City of Metz in 2024 as part of the European Interreg IV Greater Region programme, which aims to develop cross-border artistic and cultural education initiatives. In 2025, performances of Donne-moi la main (Happy Manif), Moon Bird, Knuet, Coperta and Markus et moi were co-financed by the European Union as part of the project. This programme also included a number of cross-residencies in the field of digital and multimedia arts and various exhibitions.

Rotondes said: “The 2025 activity report reflects on a dense year during which the public establishment continued to move forward without its full configuration, yet with clear direction. Beyond the constraints, the now-active works serve as a lever for the entire team to rethink both the present and future of the institution.”