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
Salzburg Festival 2018: The Bassarids
“A completely gripping new production” (FAZ): 52 years after their premiere, Hans Werner Henze’s “The Bassarids” return, with Kent Nagano at the helm, to the Salzburg Festival for a rare revival of this modern classic in a highly dramatic psychological staging by Krzysztof Warlikowski. When Dionysus bursts into the intact world of ancient Thebes, he plunges it into chaos. In the gigantic three-part set of Malgorzata Szczesniak the captivating tale unfolds like a film using split-screen techniques. With “an ensemble that without exception has an outstanding cast”, the musical realization is “simply sublime” (Der Standard).