It is hard to believe that piano legend Martha Argerich is really celebrating her 80th birthday this year – her youthful wit and shrewd piano playing certainly still excite. Particularly her concerts with longtime friend and compatriot Daniel Barenboim, whom she knows from early piano lessons in Buenos Aires, are stellar moments not to be missed. A musical star hour with Mozart’s piano sonatas for four hands from the Great Hall in the Mozarteum Salzburg. “A very beautiful and intimate concert together” Deutschlandfunk. PROGRAM Mozart: Sonata in C major for Piano Four Hands, K. 521, Andante with Five Variations in G major for Piano Four Hands, K. 501, Sonata in F major for Piano Four Hands, K. 497,
Sonata in D major for two Pianos, K. 448
The violinist Johannes Fleischmann gives deeply insightful interpretations of the music of Erich Wolfgang Korngold and Erich Zeisl, Viennese composers who escaped the rise of Nazism by journeying to America shortly before World War II. There both composers adapted their talents to the world of Hollywood, becoming defining voices in the golden age of Hollywood movie scores. PROGRAM Korngold: Four Little Cheerful Waltzes: II. Margit, Violin Sonata in G major, “Schneeglöckchen”; Zeisl : Violin Sonata “Brandeis”
To mark Anton Bruckner’s bicentenary in 2024, Christian Thielemann, the Wiener Philharmoniker and Unitel are recording the first Bruckner cycle with a single conductor in the orchestra’s history. “Two premieres: With the Study Symphony and the and the ‘Nullte’, the Wiener Philharmoniker under Christian Thielemann continued their Bruckner cycle in the empty Musikverein. For orchestra and conductor, these were first encounters. The result can already be said to be of great caliber.” Kronen Zeitung. PROGRAM Bruckner: Symphony in F minor, WAB 99 (Study Symphony), Symphony in D minor, WAB 100 (Nullte)
Every year some of the world’s finest soloists meet at the Wolkenturm in Grafenegg. The Tonkünstler Orchestra, under the baton of Yutaka Sado, rolls out a scintillating carpet of sound in the Schlosspark. In 2021, soprano Rachel Willis-Sorensen, one of the most exsiting contemporary vocalists, takes charge of the Wolkenturm. Together with tenor Benjamin Bruns and the pianist and artistic director of Grafenegg, Rudolf Buchbinder, they delight the audience with masterpieces from Schumann to Lehár. The wonderful open-air setting is illuminated by a “light score” by light artist Marcus Neustetter.
After a truly magnificent performance of the Fourth Symphony in 2020, the stellar conductor returns to the Salzburg Festival with the Seventh Symphony, one of Bruckner’s most popular works. In the first part of the concert, Christian Thielemann joins forces with Latvian star soprano Elina Garanca for Mahler’s Lieder. “Expressive but without false pathos, he shapes the Rückert Lieder – audibly inspired by the magnificent Elina Garanca, whose perfectly focused voice sounds wonderfully sensual. A haunting evening”, hailed br-klassik.de. PROGRAM Mahler: Rückert-Lieder; Bruckner: Symphony No. 7
The concerts of Greek-Russian conductor Teodor Currentzis and his musicAeterna orchestra are often more of an art performance and sacred act than just the brilliant interpretation of a musical work and are among the highlights in classical musical life. The focus of the concert by Teodor Currentzis and musicAeterna at the Salzburg Festival 2021 was on two works – the symphonies K 550 and K 551, W.A. Mozart’s final contributions to the premier class of orchestral music. “It was just a stirring concert.” (Süddeutsche Zeitung) PROGRAM: Mozart: “Alzai le flebili voci al signor” Cantata K. 469; Symphony K. 550, Maurerische Trauermusik, Symphony K. 551 “Jupiter”, Aria “Non mi dir” from Don Giovanni
András Schiff ranks among the most successful pianists of our time. His repertoire focuses on works by Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Chopin, Schumann and Bartok. Schiff has worked with the most of the major international orchestras and conductors, but nowadays performs mainly as a soloist and conductor. He has been awarded numerous international prizes. In the beautiful Haydnsaal of Esterházy Palace, he plays virtuoso works by Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven and Schubert. PROGRAM Bach : Capriccio sopra la lontananza del fratello dilettissimo, English Suite No. 3; Mozart: Piano Sonata K. 570 ; Haydn: Piano Sonata in G minor; Beethoven: Piano Sonata, Op. 81a “Les Adieux” ; Schubert : Hungarian Melody, D. 817
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 2021, the orchestra presents a program including works by Beethoven, Brahms and Franck with Michael Barenboim and Kian Soltani, both members of the orchestra, as soloists. PROGRAM: Beethoven: Overture to the ballet “Die Geschöpfe des Prometheus”; Brahms: Concerto for violin, cello and orchestra; Franck: Symphony in D minor
Evgeny Kissin appeared in Salzburg in 2021 with compositions of the late Romantic and classical modern periods in the Großes Festspielhaus. Since his debut in 1987, the pianist has been a welcome guest at this festival, impressing with the maturity and brilliance of his playing. Kissin loves the dialogue with the audience and the direct power of the concert moment. PROGRAM Chopin: Scherzo Nos 1 & 2, Polonaise in A flat major, Op. 53 “Héroïque”, Nocturne in B major, Op. 62/1, Impromptu Nos 1-3; Berg: Piano Sonata, Op. 1; Khrennikov: Three pieces for piano, Op. 5: No. 3 Dance, Five pieces for piano, Op. 2; Gershwin: Three Preludes for Piano; Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Songs Without Words, Op. 38: No. 6 Duetto
“Mahler, Live” is a dialogue between two outstanding ballets, the world premiere of “4” by Martin Schläpfer and Hans van Manen‘s icon of dance history “Live”. The new director of the Vienna State Ballet Martin Schläpfer not only presents his first own program at the Vienna State Opera with the premiere “Mahler, Live” but also introduce himself as choreographer with his world premiere “4” to Gustav Mahler‘s 4th Symphony. The result is a great ballet for the entire ensemble, which is preceded by an icon of dance history at the opening of the evening, with Hans van Manen‘s “Live”. For Martin Schläpfer music is a central basis of his work. Whether a large symphony or a chamber music miniature – the scores he chooses are usually the starting point for his works, provide the framework with their architectures, supply the energy for his tension-filled movement images. Hans van Manen‘s “Live” is the first video ballet in dance history and a masterful puzzle game with the mechanisms of perception. First performed in Amsterdam in 1979, “Live” has so far been danced exclusively by Het Nationale Ballett. With this new production in Vienna, Hans van Manen entrusts his work to another company for the first time.
