The Grafenegg Festival celebrates its 10 years’ anniversary! On this occasion, the Tonkünstler Orchestra, under the baton of Yutaka Sado, is joined by 22 alumni of the European Union Youth Orchestra and accompanied by top soloists Klaus Florian Vogt, René Pape, Camilla Nylund and Elena Zhidkova. The jubilee includes this year’s Composer in Residence Christian Jost’s two commissioned works Fanfare and An die Hoffnung as well as Beethoven’s Overture Coriolan. With Beethoven’s 9th Symphony the evening reaches ist climax. Due to the performance of “the excellent bass René Pape, the fabulous soprano Camilla Nylund and the great mezzo-soprano Elena Zhidkova along with the Wiener Singverein, Beethoven’s 9th Symphony turned out to be simply sensational. Jubilation!” (Kurier)
Red Ribbon Celebration Concert – Building Bridges for Peace
Now, in its fourth year, the Red Ribbon Celebration Concert has become an integral part of the world famous Vienna Life Ball Weekend, one of the biggest fund-raising events to further the cause of those living with HIV or AIDS. Staged in the legendary Burgtheater, the concert assembles a line-up of stars which reads like the who is who of classical music. Anna Netrebko, Juan Diego Florez, Piotr Beczala, Elena Maximova, Thomas Quasthoff, Yusif Eyvazov and Kristine Opolais as well as the jazz singer Gregory Porter perform an extraordinary concert according to the motto “Building Bridges for Peace”. From Porter’s hit “Water under Bridges” to a humorous interpretation of Franz Lehar’s “Dein ist mein ganzes Herz” by Anna Netrebko and Yusif Eyvazov, the stars where celebrated with “only bravos” (Salzburger Nachrichten).
Grafenegg: MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S GALA 2015
“Aural pleasure at the Wolkenturm” is how the Kurier newspaper described it, referring to the “top-flight summer night’s gala from Grafenegg”, taking place in the picturesque open air ambience of Grafenegg, Lower Austria. Under the artistic overall direction of pianist Rudolf Buchbinder the Grafenegg Festival has blossomed into a benchmark event for all the top stars on the classical music scene. A potpourri of lovely melodies from the world of opera, operetta and the concert hall, which brought praise from the audience and from the Wiener Zeitung: “Piotr Beczala’s wonderful operetta top notes, Elisabeth Kulman’s rich mezzo and Julia Fischer’s graceful violin playing with her refined reading of catchy Spanish tunes” are the ingredients for an unmatched evening recital in Grafenegg.