Five concerts inside the Residenz, which hall each one uses, and what none of them includes
The thing most people buy at this address is not a tour. It is an hour or two of music in a room of this palace after the museum has shut. Five listings sell it, they use three named halls between them, and they carry 658 of the 908 reviews on the eleven Residenz listings in our catalogue. That is nearly three quarters of everything anyone has written about anything sold here, pointed at the evenings.
Which hall, when, and what it costs
The hall is the column to read first. These are three quite different rooms: a chapel with hard seating and a stone temperature, a rococo auditorium of carved boxes, and a plain white hall one reviewer calls acoustically alive. The prices carry their unit, and one of the five states no unit at all.
| Listing | Hall | When it runs | Price, with its unit | Rating and reviews |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Munich: Classical Concert at the Residenz Palace | The Hofkapelle, the old court chapel | Saturdays at 6:30 pm, through the year | €39 per person | 4.6 from 389 reviews |
| Munich: Concert in the Court Chapel of the Residenz | The same Hofkapelle | “Special concerts during Advent, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and Good Friday” | €43 per person | 4.4 from 108 reviews |
| Munich: Gala Concert in the Cuvilliés Theatre | The Cuvilliés Theatre | Evenings; about 2 hours with an interval | €98 per person | 4.9 from 109 reviews |
| Master Concert in the Max-Joseph Hall in Munich | The Max-Joseph-Saal | Not stated on the page I read | €69 per person | 4.9 from 52 reviews |
| Munich: Munich Festival in the Munich Residenz | Its page names no hall | Not stated on the page I read | €59 — the page states no unit | No rating, no written reviews |
What works
- An evening in a room that the daytime ticket shuts you out of once the doors close, and for the Cuvilliés Theatre an evening seat is sold no other way
- Short. An hour in the chapel, about two in the theatre with an interval, so it fits after a full day elsewhere in the city
- Small ensembles at close range — reviewers describe trios and sextets, period instruments, and in the chapel a musician who talks between pieces
- The two chapel listings cover different parts of the calendar between them, the ordinary weeks and the big dates
Worth knowing
- No museum visit is included in any of the five. The state rooms are a separate ticket bought in daylight
- Some tickets carry seat numbers that must be collected at a box office rather than printed on your voucher, and at least one voucher did not say so
- The chapel is cold in winter, which its own page admits and its reviewers confirm — though not all of them
- Finding the right door in the dark defeats people every year, in every one of the three halls
- One of the five has no rating and no written review, so there is nothing to tell you about it beyond its price
The two chapel listings, and the real difference between them
Two of the five play the same room: the Hofkapelle, the baroque court chapel inside this building, with an ensemble billed the same way on both pages. When I first read them I took them for competitors selling the same evening. Reading the second listing’s own page settles it, and the answer is duller and much more useful than a rivalry.
The difference is the calendar. The classical concert runs Saturdays at 6:30 pm through the year. The court chapel listing is the special-date programme: in its own words, “special concerts during Advent, Christmas, New Year’s Eve, and Good Friday”. So the question is not which is better. It is what date you are in Munich. A Saturday in June has one answer, 24 December has the other, and there is no evening on which you are choosing between them.
What separates them otherwise is small and worth having. The Saturday concert is a little cheaper and has been reviewed far more often, which follows from running every week rather than on a handful of dates; both counts and both ratings are in the table above, and neither gap is large enough to choose on. The special-date programme asks you to collect tickets at the box office thirty minutes beforehand, and its meeting arrangements are the ones its reviewers most often say they struggled with.
The Saturday listing meets at the Löweneingang, the lion gate to the Brunnenhof, which is not the museum door and not the theatre door (the doors of this block, and which is which). Floor, on the special-date programme: “Beautiful setting in the Old court chapel, great music, entertaining commentary by one of the musicians.” Anja, on the same listing, wanting one thing the room did not have: “Great artists, very entertaining. Our daughter really enjoyed it too – I’ve rarely seen her listening so quietly! Personally, some Christmas decorations (lighting) would have rounded off the atmosphere in the chapel.”
Most-reviewed thing hereMunich: Classical Concert at the Residenz Palace
Same room, other datesMunich: Concert in the Court Chapel of the Residenz
A longer account of the chapel evening, with what the room is like to sit in: the court chapel concert, reviewed.
Is the chapel cold? Three reviewers, two answers
The special-date listing’s own page says the chapel is cold in winter, which is unusual candour for a product page and worth repeating. So does István, who still gave it five stars:
“The concert was fantastic. But they could have put in some warmers, it was very cold.”
— István, on Munich: Concert in the Court Chapel of the Residenz
Pascal, on the same listing and also five stars, says the same thing and adds the other recurring problem: “Very nice atmosphere, 3 very talented musicians. Unfortunately a bit cold and difficult to find as the sign is very small.”
Then read Jim, who went in May: “Chapel was nice and cool. Sound was excellent. The performers were terrific.” And Fiona, on the Saturday listing in the same room in August: “I brought a coat thinking I would be cold but in fact it was quite stuffy. But didn’t detract from the experience.”
So it is a stone chapel behaving like a stone chapel. It holds the outside temperature from a few weeks ago. Take a coat to an Advent concert and take nothing extra to a Saturday in August, and if you are between the two seasons, carry the coat and be glad the cloakroom here is free and supervised.
One more thing about the seating, from Nicki on the Saturday concert, whose typo I have left where she put it: “Only downside were the pees, the back jutted out in an awkward and tortuous place, but worth the discomfort for the music and to be in the amazing historical chapel.” They are chapel pews. They are not upholstered, and an hour is about as long as they are pleasant for — which is, conveniently, how long the concert is.
The gala in the Cuvilliés Theatre, which is the only evening seat in that room
The Cuvilliés Theatre is on the daytime tariff for about five euros, and on weekdays for most of the year that ticket does not work until 2 pm (the timetable that catches people out). A daytime visitor walks in, looks up at the tiers of carved and gilded boxes for ten minutes and walks out. The gala listing is the other way to be in there: an evening, with the lights on it and an ensemble on the stage.
Its own page calls the room one of the most beautiful and important Rococo theaters in Europe. The palace administration puts it more plainly, as a major work of Bavarian Rococo. It programmes Mozart, Vivaldi, Mendelssohn and Strauss, runs about two hours with an interval, and is wheelchair accessible — the only one of the five whose page says so. It rates 4.9 from 109 reviews, which is the largest body of opinion behind a 4.9 anywhere in this catalogue.
Worth knowing what you are sitting in: this is not the original building. The painted wood carvings and the tier fittings were taken out to safety in 1943, the building that housed them was destroyed on 18 March 1944, and the surviving pieces were handed to the palace administration in 1956 and reassembled inside the Residence complex over the following two years. Johann Baptist Zimmermann’s ceiling painting did not survive (what came through the war and what did not).
Antoaneta, on the gala: “It was a unique, excellent experience in a festive atmosphere at the wonderful Cuvilliés Theatre, one of the most beautiful and important Rococo theatres in Europe. The Residenz soloists masterfully performed music by Rossini, Mozart, Dvorak, Brahms, Johann Strauss (Son).” And Lilly, on where to sit: “Great seats, amazing venue, incredible performers! I was blown away by how good our seats were (Lower floor box seating).”
Two reviewers of this listing found the door hard. Morgan: “The timing was a little unclear until I read the fine print and realized we were behind schedule. It was also difficult to find the entrance.” That is the same complaint the daytime visitors make, and it has the same cause: the theatre has its own entrance, separate from the museum’s.
The gala concert, reviewed at length.
The Max-Joseph-Saal recital, and the ticket that is not in your phone
The third hall is the Max-Joseph-Saal, and its reviewers describe it better than any listing copy does. Charles, whose typo I have left alone: “Exceptional. The hall ws simple, white, and acoustically alive.” Gabriela: “The pieces were played first class and the hall is a real eye catcher.” Valerie found one fault with the room and it is a specific one: “The lighting in the room wasn’t great; it was blinding.”
The practical warning on this listing is the most useful sentence in the whole set of concert reviews, and it applies to more than this one hall:
“Unfortunately, my vouchers didn’t mention that I had to pick up the tickets with the seat numbers at the box office. It caused some irritation!”
— Manfred, on Master Concert in the Max-Joseph Hall in Munich
Read that before you plan an evening around arriving five minutes before the start. A voucher on a phone is not always the ticket; on several of these listings it is a claim on a ticket, and the ticket has a seat number printed on it and lives at a box office. The special-date chapel programme states its own version openly, asking you to collect thirty minutes before. VERNEUL, on the same recital, had the opposite experience and wrote it without a full stop in sight: “The tickets were waiting for us at the meeting place Great concert Very beautiful room Virtuoso violinist”. Anita, on the gala: “Voucher-ticket exchange easy.”
Whatever the listing says, treat a concert here as though something has to be collected, and get to the right door half an hour early. That covers the box-office case, the small-sign case and the wrong-entrance case in one decision, and it costs you half an hour standing in a courtyard of the Residenz, which is not a bad place to stand. Which door belongs to which part of the building.
Adri, on the same listing, names the source of the problem rather than the symptom: “Fantastic concert. Note: entrance for this concert is unclearly indicated by Get-your-Guide”. And Dwain, who gave four stars, describes a December evening: “For those who do the know the area it was almost impossible to find and with the Christmas market next door it made it more difficult. The many empty seat probably reflected that many with tickets simply ended up drinking gluhwein and eating bratwurst!”
In the rococo theatreMunich: Gala Concert in the Cuvilliés Theatre
The white hallMaster Concert in the Max-Joseph Hall in Munich
No reviews yetMunich: Munich Festival in the Munich Residenz
The fifth listing, about which there is nothing to say
The Munich Festival in the Munich Residenz is listed and it is priced. It carries no star rating, no written review, no stated duration and no named hall, and its price comes with no unit attached. That is not a criticism — it is what a new listing looks like on any platform, and every listing on this page started there.
It does mean there is nothing honest to write about it. I will not describe an evening nobody has reported on, and I am not going to fill the gap by assuming it works like the four above it. When it has reviews it will get a paragraph like the rest (how the quotes on this site are sourced).
None of the five gets you into the museum
This is the misunderstanding worth heading off, because a concert in a palace sounds like a palace visit. The chapel concert’s page states in plain words that it is the concert only and includes no museum visit. The others describe a hall, a programme and a start time, and say nothing about the state rooms because the state rooms are not in it.
So an evening of music and a look at the Antiquarium are two purchases. The daytime one is bought at the palace’s own counter, needs no reservation and comes with a free audio guide in nine languages (the tariff, and the two five-euro savings). The evening one is the seat above. They can be the same day: the museum and the Treasury close at 6 pm in summer and at 5 pm in winter, and the Saturday chapel concert starts at 6:30 pm — half an hour between the two in summer, an hour and a half in winter (the closing times, by season).
If you want the rooms explained rather than the music played, that is the guided and private group instead, and one guided listing’s inclusions reach all three ticketed parts of the address (all sixteen listings, grouped by what they hand over).
Can’t make these dates?
Browse more available Munich Residenz tours and find one that fits your schedule — all with instant confirmation and free cancellation.
Around the evening: the rooms you are not seeing on a concert ticket, the theatre in daylight, the court garden next door, which is free, and how to reach this block after dark.
Frequently asked questions
Does a Residenz concert ticket include entry to the museum?
No, and not one of the five concert listings includes one. The classical concert in the court chapel states in its own words that it is the concert only and includes no museum visit; the others sell a hall, a programme and a start time. Daytime admission to the Residence Museum, the Treasury and the Cuvilliés Theatre is sold by the palace at its own counter. The tariff.
What is the difference between the two Court Chapel concerts?
The calendar, not the ensemble and not a rivalry. Both play the Hofkapelle, the baroque old court chapel, with an ensemble billed the same way on both pages. The classical concert runs on Saturdays at 6:30 pm through the year. The other is the special-date programme — in its own wording, special concerts during Advent, Christmas, New Year’s Eve and Good Friday. Whichever falls on the date you are in Munich is the one to book. The chapel evening, reviewed.
Which halls do the Residenz concerts use?
Three named ones. The Hofkapelle, the old court chapel, is used by two of the five listings. The Cuvilliés Theatre hosts the gala, and an evening seat there is the one thing the daytime tariff cannot sell you. The Max-Joseph-Saal hosts the master concert, described by one of its reviewers as simple, white and acoustically alive. The fifth listing, the Munich Festival in the Residenz, names no hall on its page.
Is the Court Chapel cold during concerts?
In winter, yes, and the special-date listing’s own page says so. István wrote: “The concert was fantastic. But they could have put in some warmers, it was very cold.” Pascal called it a bit cold. But Jim, in May, found the chapel “nice and cool”, and Fiona, in August, brought a coat and found it stuffy. It is a stone room that holds the season. Take a coat to an Advent date.
Do I need to collect concert tickets at a box office?
On some of these listings, yes, and one reviewer was caught by it. Manfred, on the Max-Joseph recital: “Unfortunately, my vouchers didn’t mention that I had to pick up the tickets with the seat numbers at the box office. It caused some irritation!” The special-date chapel programme states its own version up front and asks you to collect thirty minutes beforehand. Arrive half an hour early at the right door and none of it matters. Which door.
Which Residenz concert has the most reviews?
The Saturday classical concert in the court chapel, with 389, which is more than twice the flagship guided tour’s 190 — dividing them gives 2.05. Across the eleven Residenz listings in our catalogue, 658 of 908 reviews sit on the five concerts. The gala in the Cuvilliés Theatre rates 4.9 from 109, the biggest sample behind a 4.9 in the catalogue. The full catalogue.