The Kühne Foundation has been an avid benefactor of the Elbphilharmonie and Laeiszhalle's music programme since 2012. In 2014, the foundation facilitated the re-establishment of the »Hamburg International Music Festival«. The Kühne Foundation supports in particular prestigious guest performances. At the »3rd Hamburg International Music Festival«, the first edition to also take place at the Elbphilharmonie, the Kühne Foundation enabled one of the festival's highlights with the guest performance of Giuseppe Verdi's »Messa da Requiem« by the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala under the baton of Riccardo Chailly.