“An insane program … A fascinating and crazy border crossing, never in danger of falling. And the audience is cheering” Die Welt. PROGRAM Ligeti: Concerto for Violin and Orchestra, Ligatura-Message to Frances-Marie (The Answered Unanswered Question), Op. 31b, “Ruhelos” from Kafka-Fragmente, Op. 24; Nörmiger: Toden Tanz from Tabulaturbuch auff dem Instrumente; Anonym: Byzantine Chant on Psalm 140; Schubert: String Quartet No. 14, D. 810 “Der Tod und das Mädchen”; Dowland: Pavane “Lachrimæ Antiquæ Novæ” for String Quintet from Lachrimæ, or Seaven Teares
Salzburg Festival 2019: Barenboim conducts the West–Eastern Divan Orchestra
Acclaimed by critics as an evening of superlative, Martha Argerich – arguably the greatest living pianist – joins Daniel Barenboim and his West-Eastern Divan Orchestra for an unforgettable interpretation of Tchaikovsky’s First Piano Concerto. Argerich’s playing is full of astonishing virtuosity and uncompromising, alternating with breakneck passages and tender tones: “Martha Argerich is and remains unique” (Die Presse). In addition to Tchaikovsky’s brilliant piece, Schubert’s Symphony “Unfinished” is played, a work that has never been performed during the composer’s lifetime, as well as Lutoslawski’s Concerto for Orchestra, completed in 1945 – a highly demanding technical piece that challenges orchestra members as virtuosos. PROGRAM Schubert: Symphony No 7; Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No 1; Lutoslawski: Concerto for Orchestra
Salzburg Festival 2019: Haitink conducts Bruckner & Beethoven
To end his active conducting career after 65 years, maestro Bernard Haitink together with the Wiener Philharmoniker gives a farewell concert at the Grosses Festspielhaus, leaving no doubt of being one of the best Bruckner interpreters ever. The Dutch conductor, who was appointed honorary member of the Wiener Philharmoniker shortly before the concert, is joined by star pianist Emanuel Ax in Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4. The concert ends with Bruckner’s monumental Symphony No. 7: “No more Bruckner under Haitink, that’s a cut in the history of interpretation” (Wiener Zeitung). PROGRAM Bruckner: Symphony No 7; Beethoven: Piano Concerto No 4
Hollywood in Vienna – A Night at the Oscars with Gabriel Yared
Hollywood in Vienna is the world’s first and unique film music gala concert, celebrating the most renowned film composers of our time. This year’s gala is dedicated to the motto “A Night at the Oscars” and to Gabriel Yared. Under the direction of Keith Lockhart, the ORF Radio Symphonieorchester Wien undertakes a glamorous journey through eight decades of film music. Gabriel Yared furthermore treats the Viennese audience to one of his rare public performances on the piano. Featuring music from The English Patient, Chocolat, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Cold Mountain, The Lives of Others, Jaws, Black Panther, Forrest Gump and many more
Epiphany Cooncert – Through the forests, through the meadows
If you wander “through the woods, through the pastures” musically, you soon come into romantic hunting grounds. These words from Weber’s opera Der Freischütz are the guiding idea for the traditional Salzburg New Year’s Concert of the Bläserphilharmonie Mozarteum Salzburg, led by Hansjörg Angerer. The Bläserphilharmonie, which is composed of top-class musicians from leading symphony orchestras such as the Berliner Philharmoniker, Bayerisches Staatsorchester, Münchner Philharmoniker, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin and Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, roams through the most beautiful hunting, nature and forest music of the 19th century.
Salzburg Festival 2018: Nelsons conducts Mahler and Zimmermann
The notion of passion, in music, initially referred to accounts of the suffering and death of Jesus. But would any form of art be conceivable without ardent passion and that kind of suffering which mobilizes creative forces as starting point for new artistic endeavours? Andris Nelsons presents a concert night which concentrates every conceivable passion: Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s Trumpet Concerto, entitled “Nobody knows the trouble I see” – a protest against racism – and Mahler’s Second, ‘Resurrection’ Symphony. PROGRAM Zimmermann: Nobody knows de trouble I see – Concerto for trumpet and orchestra; Mahler: Symphony No.2 (Resurrection). A passionate rendition of Mahler’s Resurrection Symphony, “oscillating between dream and grotesque, between idyll and Hellmouth” (Wiener Zeitung).
Salzburg Festival 2018: Barenboim conducts Tchaikovsky and Debussy
Special experiences await you at this concert: “It was like a bath of ice, cocaine, and rainbows,” remarked the American writer Henry Miller of the effect made on him by Alexander Scriabin’s orgiastic orchestral fantasy Le Poème de l’extase. No wonder, when it comes to a composer regarded as a visionary who touched on the very limits of madness. Scriabin even saw himself as a kind of Prometheus and declared: “The world lives in my consciousness, as my act of creation.” Claude Debussy also experienced a mystical moment when he conceived his impressionist tone poem La Mer. With this music, he wished not to create a musical depiction of the roaring waves and sparkling water but rather to reflect the impression that the play of the waves awakened within him. Impressive in any case is how Lisa Batiashvili performs the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto. According to the Guardian, she is a gifted storyteller, while the Wiener Standard praised her bright violin sound, comparing it to “a ray of light.” PROGRAM Tchaikovsky: Polonaise from Eugene Onegin; Violin Concerto in D major op. 35; Debussy: La Mer; Skrjabin: Le Poème de l’extase op. 54
Hollywood in Vienna – The World of Hans Zimmer
In 2018, the glamourous film music gala “Hollywood in Vienna” at the Wiener Konzerthaus has been dedicated to Academy Award winner Hans Zimmer. His greatest hits from more than 30 successful years of film score composing are brought to life by the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra and a wide range of soloists from all over the world! Featuring music from “INCEPTION”, “ THE DARK KNIGHT”, “GLADIATOR”, “THE LION KING” and many more.
Salzburg Wind Orchestra Gala with Martin Grubinger
A century after its collapse, the Danube Monarchy lives on – in the Waltz, the March, the Csárdás and the Polka. In a splendid gala concert the Bläserphilharmonie Mozarteum Salzburg, led by Hansjörg Angerer, brings the glamour of the world empire to life. The masterpieces of the leading composers who worked during the last hundred years of the Habsburg Monarchy are lively and triumphant, soulful and melancholic. Percussion superstar Martin Grubinger shines with a rousing performance of a specially arranged percussion suite. For the grand finale there is but one choice: The Blue Danube, the posthumous “national anthem” of the Danube Monarchy.
Thielemann conducts Bruckner No. 2
Christian Thielemann’s brilliant interpretation of Bruckner’s Symphony No. 2 is superbly performed by the Staatskapelle Dresden and concludes its critically acclaimed Bruckner Cycle with a concert at the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg. The orchestra makes skilled use of the new hall’s clear acoustics, filling the space with its warm sound: simply phenomenal! A concert that “will go down in the annals of the Elbphilharmonie” (Die Welt).