Vienna Symphony Orchestra

Visitors to our orchestral concerts in 2010 have an extended treat in store: the discovery of music both intimate and epic by the most significant composer working in Moscow since Shostakovich, Mieczyslaw Weinberg.

Two of the concerts with the Vienna Symphony Orchestra will be conducted by a familiar face at the Bregenz Festival, the Russian conductor Vladimir Fedoseyev, who for many years was a personal friend of Weinberg's and to whom his 17th Symphony is dedicated. The 17th symphony is an epic personal reflection on the fragile life of the individual confronting the machinery of totalitarianism, and is paired with another masterwork in which personal doubt plays a powerful role: Mahler’s Das Lied von der Erde.  

Weinberg, a refugee who witnessed from afar the destruction of his family, had an exceptionally sensitive ear to the voices of the threatened. In his exquisite and deeply moving 6th symphony, these voices are the voices of children – in this case the Vienna Boys' Choir, who are also the soloists in his recently discovered Requiem.

The final concert with the Vienna Symphony orchestra offers a personal choice of music from Judith Weir, a composer who will play an important an important part in our 2011 festival. Alongside works by Janacek and Rimsky Korsakov, which illustrate Judith’s passionate interest in story-telling, she will also introduce an important recent work of her own: "CONCRETE - a motet about London" – a tribute to the continual rebuilding of London, whether after the great fire of 1666 or after the "Blitz", the German air raids of 1940.

25 July - 11 a.m., Festspielhaus

Conductor: Vladimir Fedoseyev

Michelle Breedt, mezzo-soprano
Nikolai Schukoff, tenor

• Mieczysław Weinberg: Symphony No. 17 op.137 "Memory"
• Gustav Mahler: Das Lied von der Erde

1 August - 11 a.m., Festspielhaus

Conductor: Vladimir Fedoseyev

Elena Kelessidi, soprano
Vienna Boys' Choir, chormaster: Gerald Wirth

• Mieczysław Weinberg: Symphony No. 6 for boys' choir and orchestra op.79
• Mieczysław Weinberg : Requiem for soprano, boys' choir, choir and orchestra op.96
  

9 August -7.30 p.m., Festspielhaus

Conductor: Dmitri Jurowski

• Leoš Janáček: Taras Bulba, rhapsody
• Judith Weir: Concrete - a motet about London for narrator, choir and orchestra
• Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade Symphonic Suite op.35
  

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Vorarlberg Symphony Orchestra

Another highlight of the programme is the concert of the Vorarlberg Symphony Orchestra, in which the brilliant Vorarlberg trumpeter Jürgen Ellensohn performs Weinberg's unusual Trumpet Concerto.

15 August – 11 a.m., Festspielhaus

Conductor: Gérard Korsten

Jürgen Ellensohn, trumpet

Mieczysław Weinberg: Sinfonietta No. 1 in D minor op.41
Mieczysław Weinberg: Trumpet Concerto in B flat op.94
Bedřich Smetana: Excerpts from the cycle of symphonic poems Má vlast

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Chamber orchestra of Novosibirsk Opera, MusicAeterna

Musical jewels from Sibiria

From farthest Siberia come not only precious metals, but musical jewels too. MusicAeterna, under their inspirational leader Teodor Currentzis, are a hand picked group of passionately dedicated Russian musicians who have transformed the landscape of Russian music making.

Their performances, whether they be recordings of Purcell's "Dido and Aeneas" - a rare flowering of Russian baroque style - or razor sharp restorations of old masters like Beethoven's 5th have a sharpness of detail that eludes Russia's more traditional ensembles. Music making in the West also often suffers from a sense of comfortable routine: these players show how different music can sound when it is played with fire matched with absolute technical perfection.

The two concerts by MusicAeterna form part of our Weinberg Weekend (31 July to 2 August). They present some of Weinberg's more intimate pieces for chamber orchestra, paired with the thrilling interpretation of classics such as Beethoven's Fifth and Mozart's 40th Symphony.

1 August – 7.30 p.m., Theater am Kornmarkt

Conductor: Teodor Currentzis

• Mieczysław Weinberg: Flute Concerto No. 1 in D minor op.75
• Mieczysław Weinberg: Sinfonietta No. 2 op.74
• Sergei Prokofiev: Symphony No. 1 in D op.25 – Classical Symphony
• Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Symphony No. 40 in G minor KV 550

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2 August – 7.30 p.m., Festspielhaus

Conductor: Teodor Currentzis

• Mieczysław Weinberg: Rhapsody on Moldavian Themes op.47
• Mieczysław Weinberg: Chamber Symphony No. 4 op.153
• Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 op.67

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