An absolute highlight of Salzburg’s Mozart Week with “highest art of sound and riding“ (Kronenzeitung): the French equine artist and theatrical genius Bartabas presents Mozart’s Requiem. Horses and riders from the formidable Académie Équestre de Versailles join forces with the Musiciens du Louvre, conducted by Marc Minkowski, the Salzburger Bachchor and “an excellent quartet of soloists“ (Kurier), namely Genia Kühmeier, Elisabeth Kulman, Julien Behr and Charles Dekeyser, to place the Requiem into a new theatrical context. Restoring the Felsenreitschule’s original purpose – a riding school – and at the same time including ist impressive architecture of arcades into the musical dramaturgy, the production is a breath-taking synthesis of the arts. By meticulously refining the skillfully regulated interactions between humans, animals and music, Bartabas and his horsemen have created a production which is much more than a great show riding choreography: it’s a moving exploration of the interconnectedness of existence. A piece of art with an “exceptional power of attraction” (Schwäbische Zeitung), “a requiem for all senses“ (Kronenzeitung).
Grafenegg: Midsummer Night’s Gala 2017
It is the season’s sparkling highlight: the Midsummer Night’s Gala at the Wolkenturm with international stars in the open air! 2017 sees Russian vocalists Aida Garifullina and Dmitri Hvorostovsky adding Grafenegg to the roll-call of leading operatic venues around the world where their great voices have been heard. The young soprano Garifullina is in the ensemble of the Vienna State Opera and baritone Hvorostovsky sang at the Red Square concert in Moscow in 2013.
Grafenegg: Midsummer Night’s Gala 2018
Stars by starlight in the traditional Midsummer Night’s Gala! Two of the great voices and one of the best cello virtuosos of our time promise a musical firework at the Wolkenturm: the South African soprano Pretty Yende and the Maltese tenor Joseph Calleja, both celebrated across the world of opera, and the Dutch cellist Harriet Krijgh, with her irrepressible delight in making music. These are the famous guests with whom the Tonkunstler Orchestra and their Music Director Yutaka Sado greet the summer solstice in Grafenegg with a musical festival for all the senses.
Grafenegg: Midsummer Night’s Gala 2019
Stars by starlight in the traditional Midsummer Night’s Gala! The 2019 season at Grafenegg opens with voices and violin: Bulgarian soprano Sonya Yoncheva, French baritone Ludovic Tézier and Austrian violinist Emmanuel Tjeknavorian are accompanied by the Tonkunstler Orchestra in the romantic setting of the castle grounds. Yutaka Sado conducts a programme of arias and duets, with a firework display set to «Pomp and Circumstance».
Salzburg Festival 2017: Lorenzo Viotti conducts Beethoven and Schumann
Hailed as one of the most talented conductors of his generation, Lorenzo Viotti returns to the Salzburg Festival, which proved to be a stepping stone for the young Swiss: After he won the festival’s “Young Conductors Award”, leading the renowned Camerata Salzburg, he took the classical world by storm. Reunited with the Camerata, Viotti is joined by Sergey Khachatryan in the picturesque Großer Saal of the Stiftung Mozarteum. In their “debut of the young and wild” (ARD), they rise to the challenge that is Beethoven’s Violin Concerto: After all, Beethoven’s work was deemed too difficult whilst not being virtuosic enough when it premiered in 1806. Khachatryan demonstrates his extensive skills, producing “celestially delicate sounds” (drehpunktkultur.at). Viotti’s treatment of the “Renish”, Robert Schumann’s Third Symphony, is “youthful and brisk” (Kronenzeitung). PROGRAM Beethoven: Violin Concerto; Schumann: Symphony No. 3
Hollywood in Vienna – A Tribute to Danny Elfman
Hollywood in Vienna enters the realm of mythical creatures and fairy tales and honours Hollywood composer, Grammy Award Winner and four-time-Oscar-nominee Danny Elfman. The ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra under the baton of James Shearman discover with Beauty that there’s an enchanted prince hiding within the fearsome Beast, explore the mysterious world to which the wardrobe in “The Chronicles of Narnia” leads to and accompany the brave “Mulan” on her adventurous journey through medieval China. Star singers Nathan Trent and Louise Dearman shine in “La La Land”, while Insingizi & Friends sweep the audience in the Vienna Concert hall away with their “Lion King” medley. In the second part, conductor John Mauceri and the orchestra perform the highlights from Danny Elfman’s impressive back catalogue such as “The Nightmare before Christmas”, “The Simpsons” and “Batman”.
Muti conducts Brahms and Tchaikovsky – with Anne-Sophie Mutter
One thing you can rely on is the Salzburg Festival always offering compelling couplings of artistic personalities: in this case star violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter and Maestro Riccardo Muti. Exactly 30 years to the day since Mutter first performed Tchaikovsky’s Violin Concerto at the festival, Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece is back on the programme. Mutter’s playing is stupendous, she succeeds in a way that draws astonishment. In Brahms’s Symphony No. 2, the veteran conductor Muti “lets the string and wind groups demonstrate in exemplary manner how it can sound when all the musicians are in perfect harmony with one another.” (Salzburger Nachrichten)
Juan Diego Flórez & Vincenzo Scalera – The Salzburg Recital
The Salzburg Festival, where the world’s most famous artists come together, is always good for great concert experiences – and yet this unique concert is sure to go down in the annals of the festival. With a varied programme of popular Italian airs by Tosti and Leoncavallo, tender French songs by Henri Duparc and old favourites from Italian bel canto, the “Peruvian vocal miracle” (Die Presse) was an utter delight at his soldout lieder recital in the Grosses Festspielhaus. The first of the three encores brought for many the covert climax of the evening: Floréz plucked a guitar and accompanied himself in Consuelo Velázquez’ “Bésame mucho”. With infinite tenderness, gentle heights, heartfelt devotion and seemingly never-ending top notes, Floréz conquered every heart in the house, prompting storms of enthusiastic applause.
Hollywood in Vienna – A Tribute to James Newton Howard
“Hollywood in Vienna” is an annual symphonic gala concert celebrating classic and current masterpieces of film music and honouring each year one of today’s leading film music composer. In the first part of this edition of the concert, the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Keith Lockhart takes you away on a magical mystery tour, full of eerily-beauty and musical delight. From the eccentric Addams Family in their Victorian Mansion, to the fabulous world of Alice in Wonderland the program, true to ist motto “Tales of mystery”, sets out for mysterious places and wondrous tales. The second part of the concert is dedicated to James Newton Howard, multi-award winning composer of film scores such as “Batman Begins”, “Pretty Woman”, and “The Hunger Games”. The Press raved: “Goosebumps, tears and standing ovations!” (Kurier)
Golden Times – Thomas Hampson & The Philharmonics
“Golden Times” in Vienna: “When Hampson and the fabulous Philharmonics make music together, it’s a joy to behold” (Kurier). “Absolute virtuosity. Consummate vocalism” (Kronen Zeitung). “Breathtaking. The audience went wild” (Österreich). Star baritone Thomas Hampson is partnered by a “sensational ensemble” (Kronen Zeitung) – four virtuosos from the Vienna Philharmonic, one from the Berlin Philharmonic plus two gifted brothers – in brilliantly arranged favourites from Viennese operetta, Broadway and Hollywood musicals and much more – a deliciously entertaining evening at the Vienna Konzerthaus.