Beethoven’s opus of 32 piano sonatas, known as “the New Testament of piano music”, is a landmark in piano literature. Spanning Beethoven’s entire life, the sonatas reflect his whole development as a human being and a musician, moving from one century into the next, from one epoch in music in to another. Now, for the first time in its history the complete cycle was performed at the Salzburg Festival. For this challenge the Festival asked no less than the world-renowned and influential Beethoven expert and pianist Rudolf Buchbinder. Buchbinder’s performance is “that of a real master, effortless changing between lightning fast, technically challenging moments and tender lyrical passages. Where others can pride themselves in getting through without any accidents, Buchbinder is a poet, precise in every arpeggio touching in every keystroke” (Kurier).
Grafenegg: MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S GALA 2014
Home of the world’s best orchestras, singers and musicians – this is Grafenegg Festival. Set in the gorgeous wine-country landscape of Lower Austria near Vienna, the historic castle and its beautiful gardens invite the audience to a spectacle of classical music inspired by nature. The concert is performed in the “cloud tower”, the spectacular modern open-air-stage, with its breathtaking acoustics.
Hollywood in Vienna – A Tribute to Randy Newman
The legendary Film Music Gala from the Wiener Konzerthaus with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra , in 2014 was dedicated to Randy Newman. The program contains favourite film music from War of the Roses to The Simpsons, from Sabrina to Life of Brian, Pink Panther, The Artist, Mr. Bean, Love … actually, and several Randy Newman song medleys.
Red Ribbon Celebration Concert 2014
In 2012, the Red Ribbon Celebration Concert presented by successfully premièred at the Burgtheater Vienna, Austria. By its third edition, the gala concert has established itself and has become the fixed beginning of the charitable Life Ball weekend.On May 30, 2014 a number of world-famous artists embraced the good cause once again at the Red Ribbon Celebration Concert 2014: Piotr Beczala, Thomas Hampson, Yusif Eyvazov, Luca Pisaroni, Ildar Abdrazakov, Vesselina Kasarova and Jennifer O’Loughlin lent their unique voices to the motto “United in difference”.
Harnoncourt conducts Mozart – The Last Three Symphonies
“Representing no occasion, no immediate purpose, but an appeal to eternity” is how his biographer Alfred Einstein characterised the creation of Mozart’s last three symphonies, in this production performed by Nikolaus Harnoncourt and his “original-sound orchestra” Concentus Musicus.
Harnoncourt conducts Mozart, The Da Ponte Cycle – Don Giovanni
“He was out to create something ‘unheard-of’,” observed conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt beforehand. And true to form: What the conductor had to offer as he commenced his Mozart/ Da Ponte cycle in the Theater an der Wien was something we “had never before heard like this” (Kurier). Nikolaus Harnoncourt, “master” of period performance practice, realized a project that had long been one of his dearest wishes: for the first time, he and his “original-sound orchestra” Concentus Musicus and his personal choice of singers were presenting the complete Mozart/Da Ponte cycle and harvesting the fruits of his Mozart research – an “enthusiastically acclaimed cycle!” (news.at).
Harnoncourt conducts Mozart, The Da Ponte Cycle – Cosí fan tutte
“He was out to create something ‘unheard-of’,” observed conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt beforehand. And true to form: What the conductor had to offer as he commenced his Mozart/ Da Ponte cycle in the Theater an der Wien was something we “had never before heard like this” (Kurier). Nikolaus Harnoncourt, “master” of period performance practice, realized a project that had long been one of his dearest wishes: for the first time, he and his “original-sound orchestra” Concentus Musicus and his personal choice of singers were presenting the complete Mozart/Da Ponte cycle and harvesting the fruits of his Mozart research – an “enthusiastically acclaimed cycle!” (news.at).
Salzburg Festival: Strauss, Der Rosenkavalier
“Harry Kupfer and Franz Welser-Möst re-create a wonderful Rosenkavalier.” (FAZ) “Cheers for Welser-Möste and the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. (…) The best music theatre production ever of Salzburg Festival.” (Neue Osnarbrücker Zeitung) “With eyes wide shut you could hear the flurries of Straussian invention whirring, whirling, whistling and waltzing round the orchestra pit, making the score sound like a three-hour symphonic poem with voices rather than a “comedy in music”. (Financial Times)
Salzburg Festival: Schubert, Fierrabras
“A revelation” wrote the NRC Handelsblad about Schubert’s rarely heard heroic-romantic opera Fierrabras, one of the highlights of Salzburg Festival 2014. The work, based on a libretto by Josef Kupelwieser after the old French epic Fierabras, is lead by director Peter Stein and conductor Ingo Metzmacher.
Salzburg Festival: Mozart, Don Giovanni
According to stage director Sven-Eric Bechtolf “Don Giovanni is a romantic hero of metaphysical proportions.” He sees Don Giovanni as a person who is craving for freedom and a lack of boundaries in a puritan society. The role is performed by Italian bass-baritone Ildebrando D’Arcangelo, one of today’s leading Mozart singers (like Luca Pisaroni who sings Leporello, and Lenneke Ruiten who performs Donna Anna). Leading the Wiener Philharmoniker is the German conductor Christoph Eschenbach, a heir of George Szell and Herbert von Karajan.