Gravening Festival kicks off with ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’

A prelude to this year’s Gravenig Festival, the symphonic poem for large orchestra Richard Strauss’ “Till Eulenspiegel Merry Pranks”, first performed in 1895, as well as incidental music by Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy for speaker, soloists, choir and orchestra “A Midsummer Night’s Dream”, in libretto Written by Listen to Caroline Pienkos.

Cornelius Oponia will be the speaker at the Wolkenturm, while German soprano Nikola Hillebrand and Lower Austrian mezzo-soprano Patricia Knowles will be the soloists, two young but internationally successful singers already on the podium. The Ladies of the Wiener Singverein can also be heard in a choir arrangement by Johannes Prinz. The Tonkunstler Orchestra of Lower Austria is conducted by its principal conductor, Yutaka Sado.

The Tonkunstler Orchestra celebrates its anniversary in Gravenig

An important part of the festival, which is taking place for the 17th time this year, are the concerts given by the resident Gravenig orchestra, the Tonkunstler Orchestra of Lower Austria. For Yutaka Sado, this is the penultimate season as the main captain; From summer 2025, Fabian Gable will be the new conductor, conducting both the Summer Night Gala and the Festival Opening.

The Tonkunstler Orchestra will also be heard in the final concert of the composer-conductor’s workshop Ink Still Wet, as well as two other evening concerts with pianists Pierre-Laurent Imard and Brad Laubmann (26 August) and with violinist Sergey Duganin conducted by Tabita Berglund (1 September).

On August 19, the orchestra celebrates its 50th anniversary in Gravenig. On this occasion, Philip Manory’s “Fanfare” will be shown at the Cloud Tower. The French composer was a guest this year as composer-in-residence in Gravenig. According to the festival’s announcement, the piece will bring back what Manory’s entire work stands for: “captivating music for our time.”

The European Union Youth Orchestra is playing in the new headquarters

The European Union Youth Orchestra can also traditionally be heard at the festival – this year also on the opening weekend. For young musicians, this festival is the first to open after moving from Italy to Gravenig. Lower Austria has been the orchestra’s new home since this summer – more on this in the European Union Youth Orchestra in its new home (noe.ORF.at; 30 July 2023). Young talents will perform at the festival on August 13 with pianist Martin James Bartlett and conductor Manfred Honeck.

Pianist Rudolf Buchbender, artistic director of the Gravenig Festival, invited other big names from the world of music to continue the festival. He will also perform on Saturday after the opening: with Beethoven’s Fifth Piano Concerto, accompanied by the Kiev Symphony Orchestra conducted by Luigi Jaggero.

In another context of the festival, the London Philharmonia Orchestra will perform, among others, violinist Christian Tetzlaff and its principal conductor Santo Matias Rovali, while pianist Daniel Trifonov will perform with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra conducted by Daniel Harding. And Jorg Weidmann’s “Hot Heart” will be performed by baritone Michael Nagy with the Royal Concert Gibbo Orchestra under the direction of Evan Fischer. At the end of the festival, the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra will play works by Janacek, Enesko and Rachmaninov, with Jakub Hroussa.