[1] The first artistic director was the cellist Hans Döscher who directed the festival until his death in 1971.
From 2016, Oliver Wille has been the director, a founding member of the Kuss Quartet and a professor of chamber music for strings at the Musikhochschule Hannover.
[3] Premieres have included the Flute Concerto by Isang Yun on 30 July 1977, played by Karlheinz Zöller and conducted by Günther Weißenborn.
[5] International artists who have appeared at the festival include "composers in residence" such as Krzysztof Penderecki in 2001, before Aribert Reimann, Olivier Messiaen, György Ligeti and Witold Lutosławski,[8] also Heinz Holliger, Bernhard Lang, Helmut Lachenmann and Wolfgang Rihm.
[14] The conductor and pianist Marino Formenti [de] received the Belmont Prize at the festival in 2009.