Christoph Koncz brings Mozart’s violin back to life: together with Les Musiciens du Louvre, the esteemed violinist plays the Violin concertos Nos. 4 & 5. Christoph Koncz plays on Mozart’s original Salzburg concert violin, made available by the International Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg. This was the violin on which Mozart had played as concertmaster in the Salzburg Hofkapelle.
Mozart Week 2021: 94 seconds of new Mozart
Premieres and sensational finds are rare but there are still miracles happening: there is hardly any other composer whose life and work have been better researched and of whose complete works we have such a precise listing. Above all, because his enterprising father Leopold had compiled a catalogue of compositions by his child prodigy already in 1768. Now the almost impossible has occurred: a new, completely unknown work by Mozart has surfaced! The Allegro in D major K 626b/16, a three-part, dance-like piano piece lasts a total of 94 seconds. Examined for authenticity by the best international Mozart scholars, it is being performed for the first time ever in Salzburg, the birthplace of the great genius. But for what occasion was it composed, how was it handed down? Ulrich Leisinger, scientific director of the Mozarteum Foundation, answers these questions in conversation with Rolando Villazón. This lecture is embedded into a concert program starring Korean pianist Seong-Jin Cho and putting the new work into context. PROGRAM Piano Sonata No. 12, Piano Piece “Pimpinella”, K. 33b; Allegro from a Salzburg Music Book; Allegro, K. 626b/16 “World Premiere”. Versions available: Talk in English: 50’/ Sonata K. 332 only: 20′
Mozart Week 2021: Quatuor Van Kuijk
The Quatuor Van Kuijk was founded only 6 years ago and already they have won all the prizes that can be won: the Wigmore Hall International Chamber Music Competition, the Aix-en-Provence Festival Academy, they are BBC New Generation Artists… just to name a few. The young Viennese pianist, Maximilian Kromer, joins this exciting ensemble – what emerges is a ravishingly youthful Mozart sound. “accomplished Mozart interpreters on stage” (APA) PROGRAMM Mozart: Divertimento K. 136; Divertimento, K. 137; Piano Quartet, K. 478
A Musical Journey through Grafenegg
A special Grafenegg soirée – the festival’s artistic director, pianist Rudolf Buchbinder meets various voice leaders of the Tonkünstler orchestra in the middle of the impressive park for a musical get together. Well-known works by Mozart, Schubert, Chopin, Haydn and Beethoven can be heard at various locations on the festival site, for example the Wolkenturm, outside the castle, the auditorium, the garden pavilion and the park’s idyllic biotope.
I am Carmen
A spirited woman who loves her freedom: Carmen, the protagonist of Georges Bizet’s much loved opera of the same name, brings a whirlwind of emotions to the world’s biggest sea stage at the Bregenz Festival. The documentary I am Carmen looks behind the scenes of Kasper Holten’s spectacular production and shows British stage designer Es Devlin, responsible for the grandiose Carmen set with an impressive height of 21 metres, and costume designer Anja Vangh Kragh at work. Mezzo-soprano Gaëlle Arquez, who sings her Carmen “as if she had just invented Habanera & Co.” (Tagesspiegel), and festival director Elisabeth Sobotka talk about the opera, discuss the main characters Carmen and Don José and also touch upon the role of women in today’s society.
Sounds Of The Universe
In 2018 the International Baroque Days of Melk Abbey, today one of the internationally most renowned early music festivals, celebrated their 40th anniversary. Director Volker Werner’s documentary focuses on the unique connection between the festival and Melk Abbey. Here a modern cultural institution meets the centuries-old religious living space of the monastery. By including eminent figures like Helmut Pilss, Alexander Hauer and Michael Schade, the documentary takes us on a journey from the present day to the beginnings of the Pentecost concerts and grants an unexpected look behind the scenes.
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.
Karajan – The Maestro and his Festival
Herbert von Karajan is the world’s most famous and commercially most successful conductor ever. Inspired by his wife’s book My Life at His Side, Hannes M. Schalle’s film covers new aspects of Karajan’s career, focusing on the maestro’s work in London, Berlin, New York, Vienna, Salzburg and St Tropez. Shot on these locations, it starts in Nice, France, in 1957, when Eliette and Herbert von Karajan met for the first time. The film follows their life until July 1989 and documents Karajan’s legacy, such as the Salzburg Easter Festival. A very personal story, told by Madame Eliette von Karajan.
Minkowski conducts Mozart and Schubert
The Salzburg Mozart Week – arranged by the Mozarteum foundation, the trustees of Mozart’s musical legacy – is always offering something unique: under the direction of the principal conductor and artistic director of the Salzburg Mozart Week, Mark Minkowski, the Musiciens du Louvre perform on not one but two of Mozart’s original instruments! Mozart’s Violin Concerto and his Piano Concerto in A major are played on instruments that were once in the composer’s possession. In Franz Schubert’s Great C major Symphony, the culmination of this wonderful evening, ”Minkowski and the Musiciens du Louvre are entirely in their element” (Wiener Zeitung).
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).