At 7pm, at the Großes Festspielhaus :

WIENER PHILHARMONIKER

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Karina Canellakis : Conductor

María Dueñas : Violin

Programme :

– F. Mendelssohn : Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Op. 21;

– W. A. Mozart : Maurrassian funeral music KV 477;

– F. Mendelssohn : Violin Concerto in E minor, Op. 64;

– W. A. Mozart : Overture to Idomeneo, King of Crete, KV 366,

Four Minuets, KV 601;

– L. van Beethoven : Symphony No. 2 in D major, Op. 36.

Felix Mendelssohn has often been compared to a 19th-century Mozart: the same dazzling precocity (the admirable Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, written at the age of 17!), the same effervescent lightness, combined with an abyssal spiritual depth. For her grand debut with the legendary Vienna Philharmonic, the young Spanish violinist María Dueñas takes on the Prussian composer’s wonderful Violin Concerto. In keeping with Mozart Week, American conductor Karina Canellakis also presents the rare and moving Masonic Funeral Music. Concluding the program, Symphony No. 2 shows us Ludwig van Beethoven as a furious young man. Although the first signs of his deafness were appearing, the German composer left Mozart’s classical legacy behind to herald the grandiose romantic symphonies to come.

At 11am, at the Stiftung Mozarteum, Großer Saal :

CAPELLA ANDREA BARCA

Capella Andrea Barca

Sir András Schiff : Conductor and piano

Programme :

– W. A. Mozart : Piano Concerto in A major, K. 488;

– J. Haydn : Symphony in F sharp minor Hob. I:45 “Farewell Symphony”;

– W. A. Mozart : Overture to Don Giovanni, KV 527,

Piano Concerto in D minor, KV 466.

The Cappella Andrea Barca concert begins with an absolute masterpiece by Mozart. Composer Olivier Messiaen said of Concerto No. 23: “It ranks among the very best piano concertos: it is surely the most perfect of all, if not the most beautiful!” The central Adagio is nothing short of sublime. Written a few years earlier, Piano Concerto No. 20 reaches the same heights, particularly in the famous Romance of the second movement. Surprisingly, this concerto was one of the few pieces of Mozart’s music to survive the Romantic period. In addition to these two masterpieces conducted from the piano, the prodigious Hungarian pianist Sir András Schiff presents Haydn’s irresistible Symphony No. 45, known as the Farewell Symphony. Its final movement remains famous: each instrument leaves the stage, first the woodwinds and brass, then the strings, leaving only the two violins on stage!

À 19h30, au Stiftung Mozarteum, Großer Saal:

CHAMBER ORCHESTRA OF EUROPE & RENAUD CAPUÇON

Chamber Orchestra of Europe

Renaud Capuçon : Conductor and violin

Clara-Jumie Kang : Violin

Pascal Siffert : Viola

Programme :

– W. A. Mozart : Overture to The Marriage of Figaro, KV 492;

Concertone in C major for two violins and orchestra, K. 190;

Rondo in C major for violin and orchestra, K. 373;

Symphony in E-flat major for violin, viola, and orchestra, K. 364.

The concert will be conducted by the orchestra’s principal conductor, Maestro

Star Renaud Capuçon displays the full extent of his talent in this astonishing Mozart program. In addition to the whirlwind Overture to The Marriage of Figaro, the French violinist performs as soloist in the vibrant Rondo KV 373 and as duettist in the youthful Concertone for Two Violins KV190. As for the Sinfonia Concertante, it achieves a miraculous fusion of instruments between the Chamber Orchestra of Europe, the violin of our own Renaud Capuçon, and the viola of Pascal Siffert. A 100% Mozart concert brilliantly combining rarities and major works by the Austrian composer.

At 7:30pm, at the Stiftung Mozarteum, Großer Saal:

CONCERT OF NATIONS & JORDI SAVALL

The Concert of Nations

Jordi Savall : Conductor

Programme :

– W. A. Mozart : Serenade in D major, K. 239, “Serenata notturna”;

– C. W. Glück : Sémiramis ;

– W. A. Mozart : Overture to The Abduction from the Seraglio, KV 384;

– C. W. Glück : Ballet Don Juan or The Stone Feast Wq. 52;

– W. A. Mozart : Overture to Don Giovanni KV 527.

Mozart’s work would be unthinkable without Glück’s music. The German composer, now best known to the general public for the aria “I have lost my Eurydice” from his opera Orpheus and Eurydice, brought about a veritable musical revolution in the 18th century, liberating the timbres of the orchestra and boldly synthesizing different European traditions. Throughout his life, Mozart paid tribute to Glück’s works, both in Idomeneo and in the quasi-testamentary La clemenza di Tito. For his grand return to Salzburg, the fabulous Baroque conductor Jordi Savall, at the head of his Concert des Nations, has imagined a veritable summit meeting between the two composers. The program features the figure of Don Juan, as set to music by Mozart in his famous Don Giovanni and as magnified by Glück in his ballet Don Juan ou Le Festin de pierre.

At 7:30pm, at the Haus für Mozart :

THE MAGIC FLUTE, by W. A. Mozart

Mozarteum Ochestra Salzburg

Vienna Philharmonic Choir

Roberto González-Monjas : Conductor

Rolando Villazón : Staging

Franz-Josef Selig : Sarastro

Kathryn Lewek : The Queen of the Night

Magnus Dietrich : Tamino

Emily Pogorelc : Pamina

Theodore Platt : Papageno

Tamara Ivaniš : Papagena

The Magic Flute is Mozart’s most wonderful opera. Written at the request of his friend Emanuel Schikaneder, director of the Theater auf der Wieden in Vienna, the Austrian composer chose to appeal to a popular audience. The result is a miracle of freshness and virtuoso arias, in tune with an inexhaustible libretto that oscillates between fairytale, initiation rite, and sparkling fable. It is this musical masterpiece, created, let us remember, in the last year of the composer’s life in 1791, that Rolando Villazón has chosen to stage for this anniversary edition. Rumor has it that the show will pay tribute to one of The Magic Flute‘s greatest admirers: the painter Mark Rothko. On the musical side, we can count on the baton of one of the most prominent conductors of the new generation, Spain’s Roberto González-Monjas, principal conductor of the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg. The vocal cast brings together established singers such as Kathryn Lewek in the highly anticipated role of the Queen of the Night and Franz-Josef Selig as Sarastro, as well as young artists at the dawn of dazzling careers, such as Emily Pogorelc, who has already performed Pamina at the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and Magnus Dietrich, whose Tamino was applauded in Berlin and Dresden.