The Midsummer Night’s Gala heralds the start of the summer festival season every year, captivating the audience and celebrating the summer against the idyllic backdrop of the extensive castle grounds. On the Wolkenturm stage, chief conductor Fabien Gabel joins star pianist and festival director Rudolf Buchbinder for their first collaboration at Grafenegg. Buchbinder, intimately familiar with the venue, performs a movement from Schumann’s Piano Concerto in A minor. South African mezzo-soprano Siphokazi Molteno makes her festival debut, alongside American tenor Michael Spyres, recently named Best International Opera Singer at the Oper! Awards. The programme offers a vibrant mix of opera arias, overtures, and orchestral works, featuring Rossini’s Il barbiere di Siviglia, Puccini’s Turandot, and a spotlight on French and Spanish music.
Vienna Advent Concert at St. Stephen’s Cathedral
The Christmas concert of the Wiener Symphoniker in St. Stephen’s Cathedral is a wonderful way to get in the mood for Christmas. It opens the heart and makes one ready to welcome Christ in every person. For this concert French conductor Fabien Gabel presents timeless oratorio classics by Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel, as well as romantic church music by Gioachino Rossini, Giacomo Puccini and Hector Berlioz. The soloists are soprano Elsa Benoît, tenor Stanislas de Barbeyrac, Diana Tishchenko on violin and ARD Music Prize winner Selina Ott on trumpet. In addition, the Wiener Sängerknaben and the Chorus Viennensis created a Christmas atmosphere in the festively decorated cathedral. Programme: Bach: Magnificat, Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen; Handel: Overture to Samson, Thus when the sun, Awake the trumpet lovely sound, Let the Bright Seraphim; Puccini: Preludio sinfonico; Rossini: Domine Deus from Petite messe solenelle; Berlioz: L’Adieu des bergers à la Sainte Famille from L’Enfance du Christ; Massenet: Méditation from Thaïs; Glasunov: Album leaf; Schreker: Valse lente; Strauss: Wiegenlied (Lullaby); Anonymus: Adeste fideles