From May 7 through June 19, the Vienna Festival, headed by artistic director Luc Bondy and music director Stéphane Lissner, will once again present a reat number of musical and dramatic productions. As a co-production with the Festival d'Aix-en-Provence and the Opéra National de Paris, Luc Bondy presents a production of George Frideric Handel's opera "Hercules" with William Christie conducting Les Arts Florissants at the Theater an der Wien. Also at this quaint and lovely theater, Nikolaus Harnoncourt will conduct the Concentus Musicus in a new production of "Lucio Silla," an early opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. Controversial and talented director Peter Sellars presents a newly rehearsed scenic production of Bach Cantatas with the American mezzo-soprano Lorraine Hunt Lieberson at Vienna's Ronacher Theater. The Ronacher also presents a Luc Bondy production of a contemporary opera by Philippe Boesmans, "Julie," after the Strindberg play "Miss Julie." A special treat awaits music lovers at Hall E of the MuseumsQuartier: Leoa Janácek's miniature one-act opera "Diary of One Who Disappeared" (Tagebuch eines Verschollenen, in Max Brod's German translation).
A major part of the Vienna Festival is the Music Festival, which this year promises to be a special treat for music lovers. The festival connects two major European capitals, Berlin and Vienna, in musical harmony. On May 6, the Berliner Philharmoniker will perform at Vienna's Konzerthaus for the first time. And two days later, a unique musical summit occurs when, under the baton of Sir Simon Rattle, the Berliner and Wiener Philharmoniker perform together for the first time. Other highlights are a concert performance of Jules Massenet's Opera "Thaďs," with soprano Renée Fleming and baritone Thomas Hampson, and a performance of the "Requiem" by Giuseppe Verdi.
Among the participants at the festival, one finds major musical stars such as pianists Alfred Brendel and Maurizio Pollini, soprano Jessye Norman, and the tenors Johan Botha and Michael Schade.
Information & tickets: mailto:festwochen@festwochen.at (information); mailto:kartenbuero@festwochen.at (tickets); http://www.festwochen.or.at+++SALZBURG FESTIVAL July 25 - August 31, 2005
Salzburg is getting ready for the Mozart Year 2006. In preparation, this year the Salzburg Festival will present director Graham Vick's new production of "The Magic Flute" by Salzburg's very own Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Riccardo Muti conducts and both famed tenor Michael Schade and the great bass-baritone René Pape will be among the soloists. Last year's production of "Cosě fan Tutte" will again be performed with major operatic stars in the leading roles. There will also be a new production of "Mitridate, Re di Ponte" at the Inner Courtyard of the Residence. At the same venue, one can also hear a concert performance of Christoph Willibald Gluck's "Alceste". At the famous Felsenreitschule, Franz Schreker's rarely-seen opera "Die Gezeichneten," which was first performed in 1920, can be seen. There is also a great treat for fans of Giuseppe Verdi: A new production of Verdi's "La Traviata," with the Russian-born star Anna Netrebko as Violetta and the renowned American baritone Thomas Hampson as Germont. In addition, there will be a concert performance of Tchaikovsky's "Mazeppa" with the chorus and orchestra of the Kirov Mariinsky Theater under the baton of Valery Gergiev.
Baritones Matthias Goerne and Thomas Hampson, and tenor Michael Schade will give lieder recitals. World-famous pianists Alfred Brendel, Andras Schiff, Ivo Pogorelich, piano prodigy Lang Lang, and Maurizio Pollini will also give solo recitals.
The centerpiece of the Salzburg Festival concert season will once again be the Wiener Philharmoniker, which will perform under such famous conductors as Christian Thielemann, Riccardo Muti, Valery Gergiev, and Nikolaus Harnoncourt. The Wiener Philharmoniker will be complemented by their renowned colleagues from Berlin and other eminent visiting orchestras. Among the conductors throughout the festival will be such world-famous personalities as Sir Simon Rattle, Kent Nagano, Bertrand de Billy, Marrss Jansons, and Esa-Pekka Salonen.
Three Mozart matinees will be given at the Mozarteum (in Austria, the term "matinee" designates performances that begin in the late morning, usually at 11:00 am).
Information and tickets: mailto:info@salzburgfestival.at; http://www.salzburgfestival.com+++BREGENZ FESTIVAL July 20 - August 21, 2005
Romantic love, passion, drama, jealousy, and revenge are the overriding emotions in Giuseppe Verdi's "Il Trovatore," the opera to be performed at the giant lake stage at the Bregenz Festival. The festival's new artistic director, David Pountney, himself a famed opera director, was able to enlist the services of an eminent colleague, namely Robert Carsen, who has had great successes all over the world, including at the Vienna State Opera and the Metropolitan Opera in New York. The Wiener Symphoniker will be conducted by Italian conductor Fabio Luisi, who during the past several years has conducted with overwhelming success at every major opera house in the world. Luisi will conduct the orchestra, whose principal conductor he will become in the near future.
At the Bregenz Festival House, a comical opera "Maskerade" by the Danish composer Carl Nielsen, which was first performed in Copenhagen in 1906, will also be performed. Also at the Festival House, one can hear concerts by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra under the baton of such renowned conductors as Fabio Luisi, Wayne Marshall and Michael Schonwaldt, who will also conduct the Danish National Orchestra at one of the two matinees.
The Theater am Kornmarkt has been designated by the festival's artistic director David Pountney an operetta venue; this year, he chose a rarely- heard operetta by Johann Strauss, "Der lustige Krieg" (The Merry War).
"Kunst aus der Zeit" (Art in its Time) will stage a number of productions, among them "...ce qui arrive," a spatial composition by Olga Neuwirth, and "Imitation of Life," a work of musical theater based on ideas by Bret Easton Ellis and David Lynch as well as on compositions by Arnold Schoenberg and Carl Nielsen, to be performed at Kunsthaus Bregenz.
Information & tickets: mailto:info@bregenzerfestspiele.com; http://www.bregenzerfestspiele.com+++ VIENNA SPRING FESTIVAL March 29 - May 6, 2005
In 2005, the Vienna Spring Festival, founded in 1992, will take place at several of the concert halls in one of Vienna's most famous concert buildings, the Musikverein. The original motto at the founding of the Society of Friends of Music in 1812 -- "Music in all Its Incarnations" -- seems as apt today as it did then. Sixty-three concerts will be performed in the four newly refurbished halls of the Musikverein. Among the numerous concerts, we can mention only a few: To celebrate his own 60th birthday, Oleg Maisenberg will conduct works by Sergei Rachmaninov. Daniel Barenboim, who has become an honorary member of the Musikverein, will conduct Gustav Mahler's Ninth Symphony with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra; Barenboim will also accompany famed baritone Thomas Quasthoff on the piano for a recital of Franz Schubert's "Winterreise."
Information & tickets: mailto:ticket@konzerthaus.at; http://www.konzerthaus.at+++THE SOUND OF EASTER IN VIENNA March 18 - 27, 2005
The opening concert of Vienna's Easter Festival, OsterKlang (March 18, 2005 and March 19), features the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra. This year the concert is Johann Sebastian Bach's "Passion According to St. Matthew," conducted by Daniel Harding and featuring Olaf Bär, Christine Schäfer, Anne- Sofie von Otter, James Taylor, and Neil Davies. The program also includes Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Mass in C-Minor, performed by the Bach Collegium Stuttgart under Helmuth Rilling and the "Pezzi Sacri" by Giuseppe Verdi, performed by the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra under Bertrand de Billy with world-renowned tenor Johan Botha.
Once again, Easter tradition demands a performance of Richard Wagner's "Parsifal" at the Vienna State Opera, this time in an exciting production by Christine Mielitz with Torsten Kerl in the title role and Falk Struckmann as Amfortas, and with Peter Schneider conducting the Vienna State Opera Orchestra (which is the pool from which the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra draws its members).
Information & tickets: mailto:tickets@klangbogen.at; http://www.klangbogen.at+++KLANGBOGEN - VIENNA'S SUMMER OF MUSIC July 16 - August 18, 2005
It seems that Placido Domingo has become an integral part of Vienna's Summer of Music: in 2005, he will conduct two performances of Franz Lehár's operetta "The Count of Luxembourg" at the historic Theater an der Wien. At the same venue, which now has become one of the KlangBogen's most important, one finds performances of Beethoven's "Fidelio" with Vienna's Radio Symphony Orchestra under its permanent conductor Bertrand de Billy (who has also been a welcome visiting conductor at New York's Metropolitan Opera). The Semper Depot of the Academy of Fine Arts will present the opera "The Knot Garden" by British composer Michael Tippett.
Orchestra concerts and recitals feature such eminent artists as violinist Julian Rachlin and pianist Rudolf Buchbinder, among many others. At the birthplace of Franz Schubert, a cycle of Schubert's piano music will be performed by renowned pianists. Part of the festival, even though it occurs after its official end, will also be a matinee concert with the Wiener Philharmoniker under one of their favorite conductors, Zubin Mehta, on September 4, 2005.
Information & tickets: mailto:tickets@klangbogen.at; http://www.klangbogen.at+++SALZBURG'S EASTER FESTIVAL March 19 - 28, 2005
Founded by famed conductor Herbert von Karajan in 1967 to provide a venue for his orchestra, the Berliner Philharmoniker, this festival quickly established itself as one of the great musical venues for artists and audiences alike. One opera, performed in the Large Festival Hall (Grosses Festspielhaus), is performed during the Easter week. In 2005, the Berliner Philharmoniker, under their principal conductor Sir Simon Rattle, who is also the artistic director of the Salzburg Easter Festival, will present a production by Sir Peter Hall of Benjamin Britten's tempestuous opera "Peter Grimes": performers include Robert Gambrill, Amanda Roocroft, and John Tomlinson. The festival program also includes choir and orchestra concerts with the Berliner Philharmoniker, and occasional appearances by visiting orchestras. Concerts performed by chamber ensembles drawn from the Berliner Philharmoniker at the Mozarteum complement the opera production.
Information & tickets: mailto:karten@osterfestspiele-salzburg.at, http://www.osterfestspiele-salzburg.at+++WHITSUN BAROQUE MUSIC FESTIVAL IN SALZBURG May 13 - 16, 2005
The Whitsun Baroque Music Festival of 2005 concentrates on works by George Frideric Handel and Johann Sebastian Bach as well as some of their contemporaries, such as Georg Philipp Telemann. Handel's opera "Acis and Galatea" will be performed by Les Musiciens du Louvre under Marc Minkowski. Les Arts Florrisants perform Handel's rarely-heard oratorio "L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato," and the Mozarteum Orchestra brings his famous oratorio "Solomon" to life under conductor Ivor Bolton, featuring, among others, countertenor Michael Chance and soprano Katarina Karnéus. The Berlin Baroque Soloists perform works by Bach and Telemann, and pianist Evegni Koroliov will devote a piano recital to Bach's "Goldberg Variations". Motets and cantatas by Bach are performed by the Cantus Cölln under Konrad Junghänel.
Information & tickets: mailto:info@salzburgfestival.at; http://www.salzburgfestival.at/pfingsten+++EARLY MUSIC FESTIVAL IN INNSBRUCK August 13 - 28, 2005 and
+++AMBRAS PALACE CONCERTS July 13 - August 10, 2005The Innsbruck Festival of Early Music is now in its 29th year: In the past few decades, it became renowned for performing some relatively unknown, but above all transcendently performed works of the Renaissance period. This year, the main opera production was written by Francesco Conti and first performed in 1719: "Don Chisciotte in Sierra Morena" will be performed by the Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin under its renowned conductor René Jacobs. Other groups to perform include the Ensemble Baroque de Limoges under Christophe Coin and the British vocal ensemble I Fagiolini, which will play Claudio Monteverdi's Fourth Book of Madrigals. Yet another exciting concert will be the appearance of William Christie with his ensemble Les Arts Florissants: Innsbruck's Jesuit Church provides a perfect background for a performance of the the oratorio "Judicium Salomonis," composed by Marc- Antoine Charpentiers for the Jesuits.
One of the most beautiful settings of the Festival has become a favorite place for audiences from all over the world: the Ambras Palace Concerts combine the unparalleled ambiance of a medieval palace with the artistry of great masters over their instruments (July 13 - August 10, 2005).
Information & tickets: mailto:info@altemusik.at; http://www.altemusik.at+++LOWER AUSTRIAN DANUBE FESTIVAL April 21 - May 8, 2005
This year, the Lower Danube Festival, a platform for contemporary performing arts far outside the mainstream, again promises a number of excellent productions. To quote the organizers: "The new Danube Festival wants young and strong art with pointed teeth and some bite!" Rap, Hip-Hop, experimental electronics, jazz, and spoken word are representative of the Danube Festival's invigorating conception of "New Music." The first part of the festival takes place in the medieval town of Krems during the last weeks of April, the second part during the first week of May in Korneuburg. Both, as the name clearly states, are located on the banks of one of the most celebrated rivers in the world, the Danube. Even though the program is far from the mainstream, the festival takes place along one of the main streams of Europe: the Danube with its long history. It is this seeming contradiction that makes the festival all the more exciting.
Information & tickets: mailto:office@donaufestival.at; http://www.donaufestival.at+++SCHUBERTIADE IN VORARLBERG May 13 - 16; June 10 - 27; July 13 - 17; and August 24 - September 10, 2005
The world-renowned Schubertiade Schwarzenberg emulates the evenings that Franz Schubert spent with his friends making and enjoying music on a grand scale. As in every year, the Schubertiade Schwarzenberg takes place in four parts, starting as early as May and lasting into September - we will provide a reminder and more information on the last part of the festival in early summer. During the first three sections, such celebrated artists as baritones Thomas Quasthoff and Matthias Goerne, sopranos Dorothea Röschmann and Christine Schäfer, mezzo-soprano Magdalena Kozena, tenors Christoph Prégardien, Michael Schade, and Ian Bostridge will perform what amounts to "Mostly Schubert." World-renowned pianist Alfred Brendel, and numerous chamber ensembles, among them the Emerson String Quartet, will celebrate the genius of Franz Schubert in this small town in Vorarlberg. Famous lieder singer Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau will not only repeat his successful Master Classes but also conduct the Vienna Chamber Orchestra in a special concert.
Information & tickets: mailto:info@schubertiade.at; http://www.schubertiade.at+++STYRIARTE GRAZ June 19 - July 27, 2005
Every year since 1985, when the styriarte was founded, musicians from all over the world have flocked to Graz to participate in old-fashioned music- making with the much-admired genius loci, Nikolaus Harnoncourt. And despite his ever-increasing renown as one of the top-flight conductors, Harnoncourt puts much time and energy into "his" festival. This year, for instance, he managed to persuade one of the prominent directors of German-language theater, Andrea Breth, to direct a scenic performance of Georges Bizet's "Carmen"; Harnoncourt will conduct the Chamber Orchestra of Europe; a number of well-established as well as up-and-coming opera singers will perform this romantic opera. Among the performers assembling in Graz to celebrate the spirit of musical togetherness are such great artists as violinist Christian Altenburger, baritone Florian Boesch, soprano Ildiko Raimondi, viola da gamba player Jordi Savall, Musica Antiqua Köln, the Concentus Musicus Vienna, and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe.
Information & tickets: mailto:info@styriarte.com; http://www.styriarte.com+++LAKE FESTIVAL IN MOERBISCH July 14 - August 28, 2005
One will have to look far and wide, including on the American continent, to find someone who has never heard "The Merry Widow Waltz" - the lilting melody of this song has become such a classic that many might not know that it is one of the "hits" of Franz Lehar's most famous operetta, appropriately called "The Merry Widow." A great way to celebrate the anniversay of the 100th birthday of one of the most beloved operettas in the world is to visit Mörbisch for its splendid Lake Festival. This immortal operetta will be performed on the famous Lake Stage - one of the largest open-air stages in the world - which is beautifully framed by the impressive backdrop of Lake Neusiedl, and is only about an hour's ride from Vienna.
Information & tickets: mailto:tickets@seefestspiele-moerbisch.at; http://www.seefestspiele-moerbisch.at+++OPERA FESTIVAL ST. MARGARETHEN July 13 - August 28, 2005
What better way to spend an evening than to sit under the open sky in an old Roman quarry and listen to the lilting tunes of a beautifully sung and performed opera: The organizers of the Opera Festival of St. Margarethen are not emulating some of the more established arenas, such as the one in Verona, but have found their very own style. Every year so far, they have had to add performances to accommodate the numerous visitors to the festival.
In 2005, the festival performs Georges Bizet's immortal opera "Carmen" - the tale of a woman with an independent spirit, of smugglers in craggy mountains, of splendid bullfights including the toréador Escamillo. This is the story of the love, passion, and jealousy between Carmen and her lover, the deserter Don José.
On September 3, 2005, yet another spectacle will take place in the old St. Margarethen quarry: Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana" in a lavish production with dancers, acrobats, and singers.
Information & tickets: mailto:tickets@ofs.at; http://www.ofs.at
For information on travel to Austria, please contact the Austrian Tourist Office:
tel (212) 944 6880; fax (212) 730 4568; email: mailto:travel@austria.info; http://www.austria.info
