For the opening of the International Baroque Festival at Melk Abbey, the ancient world makes its way into the Abbey Church. With Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, the composer’s brilliant opera and at the same time one of the central works of music history, the festival takes on the love and suffering of a couple who are granted happiness together for only a brief moment. The lovers’ fate finally culminates in one of the most poignant moments ever composed. The Concentus Musicus Wien under its conductor Stefan Gottfried and a cast of outstanding singers make this semi-scenic performance an unforgettable experience. “A stellar hour!” (Niederösterreichische Nachrichten)
Salzburg Festival 2022: Christian Thielemann & Elina Garanca
“What a sound pleasure, what a playing culture! […] Bruckner’s ‘Ninth’ without burdens, without any heaviness. Symphony in Schubert’s sense, seductive, apollonian.” (Kronenzeitung) To mark the bicentenary of Anton Bruckner’s birth in 2024, Christian Thielemann, the Wiener Philharmoniker and Unitel record the first Bruckner cycle with a single conductor in the orchestra’s history. After a truly magnificent performance of the Seventh Symphony in 2021, the stellar conductor returns to the Salzburg Festival with the Ninth to finish the cycle. In the first part of the concert, Christian Thielemann joins forces with Latvian star mezzo-soprano Elina Garanca and the Konzertvereinigung Wiener Staatsopernchor for Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody. PROGRAM: Brahms: Alto Rhapsody for voice, male chorus and orchestra, Op. 53; Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 in D minor
Madama Butterfly – Hope and longing at Bregenz Festival
Salzburg Festival 2022: Andris Nelsons & Yefim Bronfman
Praised as an “exuberant, intoxicating conductor” (Boston Globe), Grammy Awardwinning Andris Nelsons is one of the most renowned and innovative conductors on the international scene today and his connection with the Wiener Philharmoniker is something special: Nelsons has developed a physical language with the players whose musical partner he has been since 2010. At the 2022 Salzburg Festival edition, Andris Nelsons and the Wiener Philharmoniker continue their acclaimed Mahler cycle with the Fifth Symphony, pairing it with Bartók’s second piano concerto. “Bronfman shows everything: impeccable technique, expressive art, power, but also a relaxed attitude when he delicately weaves in Bartók’s folklore quotations. […] The “Viennese”, with Andris Nelsons of one heart and soul. […] Great jubilation.” (Der Standard) PROGRAM: Bartók: Piano Concerto No. 2; Schumann: Arabesque op. 18; Mahler: Symphony No. 5.
Salzburg Festival 2022: Lang Lang & Daniel Barenboim
“Lang Lang makes the garlands of sound sparkle with crystal clarity” (Wiener Zeitung) Ever since its first performances in 2007, the concerts of Daniel Barenboim’s West- Eastern Divan Orchestra have been among the first to be sold out at the Salzburg Festival. In 2022, the orchestra presents a Spanish night with Lang Lang as soloist. PROGRAM Ravel: Rapsodie espagnole for Orchestra, Boléro; de Falla: Noches en los jardines de España for piano and orchestra; Debussy: “Ibéria“ from Images pour orchestre
Sinfonía por el Perú & Juan Diego Flórez
Juan Diego Flórez could savour the sweet glory of a star tenor to the full. He could concentrate on a handful of parade roles to play his trump cards: the brilliant top notes, the striking coloratura skill, the stylish art of phrasing. But the tenor looks beyond his own art and also pursues a social mission. Having founded the “Sinfonía por el Perú” in his home country, an educational project, he offers children from disadvantaged families a musical education. Together with conductor Roberto González-Monjas, Juan Diego Flórez and “his” orchestra perform a diverse programme that spans from Bel canto to Spanish Zarzuela. The fervour of the young classics sweeps the audience along, double basses are whirled, the strings do the wave and stand dancing from the desks. Euphoric! “Flórez and his youth orchestra: With ardour, diligence and tears” (Salzburger Nachrichten)
Wiener Philharmoniker, Zubin Mehta & Martha Argerich
Zubin Mehta and Martha Argerich return with Schumann’s only piano concerto and Bruckner’s fourth symphony in an exclusive Subscription Series concert to the Golden Hall of the Musikverein in Vienna – the city where both received important impulses for their musical education in the 1950s. More than half a century later, the Indian conductor and the Argentinean pianist are among those artistic personalities who have succeeded in leaving a lasting mark on the fast-moving classical music world. Their artistic achievements represent a piece of cultural memory of the 20th and 21st centuries and are still impressively alive. “The Power of true Old Masters – Martha Argerich sat at the piano
as spiritedly sparkling as ever. Just as Bruckner’s Fourth subsequently succeeded in becoming a magnificent dialogue between orchestra and conductor: Bruckner impulsive, intimate, poignant, stirring.” (Kronen Zeitung)
Vienna Advent Concert at St. Stephen’s Cathedral
The Christmas concert of the Wiener Symphoniker in St. Stephen’s Cathedral is a wonderful way to get in the mood for Christmas. It opens the heart and makes one ready to welcome Christ in every person. For this concert French conductor Fabien Gabel presents timeless oratorio classics by Johann Sebastian Bach and George Frideric Handel, as well as romantic church music by Gioachino Rossini, Giacomo Puccini and Hector Berlioz. The soloists are soprano Elsa Benoît, tenor Stanislas de Barbeyrac, Diana Tishchenko on violin and ARD Music Prize winner Selina Ott on trumpet. In addition, the Wiener Sängerknaben and the Chorus Viennensis created a Christmas atmosphere in the festively decorated cathedral. Programme: Bach: Magnificat, Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen; Handel: Overture to Samson, Thus when the sun, Awake the trumpet lovely sound, Let the Bright Seraphim; Puccini: Preludio sinfonico; Rossini: Domine Deus from Petite messe solenelle; Berlioz: L’Adieu des bergers à la Sainte Famille from L’Enfance du Christ; Massenet: Méditation from Thaïs; Glasunov: Album leaf; Schreker: Valse lente; Strauss: Wiegenlied (Lullaby); Anonymus: Adeste fideles
Christian Thielemann conducts Bruckner & Strauss
“The Vienna Philharmonic, conductor Christian Thielemann and composer Anton Bruckner – this is a combination that music lovers can really enjoy.” (Kurier) Christian Thielemann has become known as an expert in late Romantic repertoire. In this concert, he conducts one of the least performed Bruckner Symphonies, the sixth, which will be heard, along with Richard Strauss’s melancholy, serene Four Last Songs with Camilla Nylund. The program is part of the first Bruckner cycle with Christian Thielemann and the Wiener Philharmoniker. PROGRAM: R. Strauss: Malven (arranged by Wolfgang Rihm), Vier letzte Lieder; A. Bruckner: Symphony No. 6 in A major, WAB 106
¡Cincuentañero! – Rolando Villazón’s 50th Birthday Gala
Rolando Villazón assembles his friends, all of them prominent guests, for a festive gala concert. The first part of the performance is dedicated to his musical heartfelt friend Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, followed by “hits” from opera, operetta and popular songs from Europe and Mexico in the second part. The singers are accompanied by the Camerata Salzburg under Lithuanian conductor Giedre Šlekyte. “A showcase of great operatic voices” (Salzburger Nachrichten)