7:30pm, at the Mozarteum :

BABORÁK ENSEMBLE

Radek Baborák : French horn

Milan Al-Ashhab : Violin

Martina Bačová : Violin

Karel Untermüller : Alto

Hana Baboráková : Violoncello

David Pavelka : Double bass

– W.A. Mozart: Horn concerto in E flat major, K. 495

– A. Reicha: Quintet for horn and string quartet (with double bass ad lib.) in E major, op. 106

– M. Haydn: Larghetto and Allegro

– W.A. Mozart: Rondo for horn, 2 violins, viola and cello in D major K. 514 (fragment, completed by F.X. Süssmayr), Horn quintet in E flat major

Come and discover the French horn with its finest ambassador. The Czech Radek Baborák is one of its finest virtuosos, exalting the distinctive colours and unique repertoire of this brass instrument. If German Romanticism magnifies the autumnal and rural hues, Classicism already sublimates its incredible possibilities. Salzburg is, of course, synonymous of Mozart, with several indisputable masterpieces for the horn (the concerto, the rondo and the quintet), but the formidable musicians of the Baborak Ensemble will also be taking some interesting side roads with the music of Reicha, a Czech composer who travelled all over Europe at the beginning of the nineteenth century, as well as that of Michael Haydn. Haydn was admired by Mozart, and his older brother Joseph was jealous of his musical talent!

7:30pm, at the Mozarteum :

DANISH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA – W.A. Mozart / A. Salieri

National chamber orchestra of Denmark

Ádám Fischer : Conductor

Olga Peretyako : Soprano

– W.A. Mozart: Overture to Lucio Silla K. 135, Donna Anna’s aria “Crudele? Ah no, mio bene” from Don Giovanni K. 527

– A. Salieri: La Veneziana Symphony

– W.A. Mozart: Scena “Ch’io mi scordi di te” K. 505, aria from Electra “O smania! O furie! … D’Oreste, d’Ajace” from Idomeneo K. 366, Linz Symphony K. 425

Olga Peretyatko can do it all. Equally at home in the Belcan repertoire (Rossini, Bellini, Donizetti) and the Slavic repertoire, the Russian soprano enchants with her stage charm and a voice as colourful as a bouquet of roses. But if there is one composer who brings out the very best in her singing, it is Mozart, whose operas she performs in the world’s finest concert halls.

At the Salzburg Mozart Week, she will play Anna in Don Giovanni and Electra in Idomeneo, as well as the sublime concert aria Ch’io mi scordi di te K. 505. Conducted by Ádám Fischer, the Danish National Chamber Orchestra concludes the programme with the beautiful Linz Symphony (1783), which ushers in a new musical period for Mozart.

7:30pm, at the Grosses Festspielhaus :

WIENER PHILARMONIKER – W.A. Mozart / L. van Beethoven

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Lahav Shani : Conductor

Anne-Sophie Mutter : Violin

Michael Barenboim : Viola

– W.A. Mozart: Symphonie concertante for violin, viola and orchestra in E flat major K. 364

– L. van Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C minor, Op. 67

Hearing the Vienna Philharmonic is always a pleasure. Years, even decades, go by, and the quality of the prestigious Austrian orchestra remains at its best. The velvet of its strings, the quality of its ensemble and the virtuosity of its soloists remain undisputed benchmarks the world over. Currently director of the Rotterdam and Munich orchestras, Lahav Shani is regarded as one of the finest conductors of the younger generation. It is not impossible that the Israeli musician will soon take the helm of the Vienna Philharmonic, and this evening’s concert will be no more than a trial run for the future. In addition to Beethoven’s celebrated Symphony No. 5, the programme will feature Mozart’s enchanting Symphonie concertante. Anne-Sophie Mutter and Michael Barenboim are exceptional soloists in this work, in which the violin and viola weave the most undulating of dialogues.

7:30pm, at the Mozarteum :

CHAMBER ORCHESTRA OF EUROPE – W.A. Mozart / A. Salieri / L. van Beethoven

Chamber orchestra of Europe

Kirill Gerstein : Conductor and piano

– W.A. Mozart: Overture to Cosi fan tutte K. 588

– A. Salieri: Piano concerto in B flat major

– W.A. Mozart: Piano concerto in D minor

– A. Salieri: 26 Variations on “La folia di Spagna” for orchestra

– L. van Beethoven: Overture to Coriolan op. 62, Piano Concerto No. 2 in B flat major

Playwrights and film-makers are not always to be believed. Forman’s film Amadeus is a masterpiece, but it conveys a false image of Antonio Salieri, Mozart’s contemporary composer. Far from being jealous of the divine Wolfgang, the Italian musician was an artist celebrated throughout Europe, and it is also said that he generously and unselfishly helped his Salzburg junior on several occasions. This concert by the Chamber Orchestra of Europe is therefore a double event: firstly, the rediscovery of little-known pieces by Salieri, and secondly, confirmation of the talent of the brilliant Russian-born pianist Kirill Gerstein, who plays no fewer than three concertos here (Salieri, Mozart, Beethoven)!

7:30, at the Felsenreitschule :

LA CLEMENCE DE TITUS – W.A. Mozart

Rolando Villazón & Bettina Geyer Semi-scenic set

Le Concert des Nation

Jordi Savall : Conductor

Edgdardo Rocha : Tito

Hanna-Elisabeth Müller : Vitellia

Magdalena Kožená : Sesto

Christina Gansch : Servilia

Marianne Beate Kielland : Annio

Salvo Vitale : Publio

Vienna Philharmonic choir

Walter Zeh : Choirmaster

For a long time, La Clémence de Titus suffered from an unjustified reputation. And it is only in recent years that the greatness of Mozart’s last opera has been fully appreciated. Premiered in Prague in 1791 to mark the coronation of Leopold II as King of Bohemia, the work came after the Da Ponte trilogy (The Marriage of Figaro, Don Giovanni, Cosi fan Tutte) and then The Magic Flute, and marked a return to an older form dating from the mid-eighteenth century: the opera seria. Made up of majestic arias and recitatives, La Clémence de Titus is a sublime reflection on love and friendship. The current director of the Mozart Week, Rolando Villazón, accompanied by Bettina Geyer, offers a staged version. Among the excellent cast of singers, Magdalena Kožená‘s Sesto is a special treat. In the pit, conductor Jordi Savall never ceases to amaze. At the head of his ensemble Le Concert des Nations, the brilliant gambist from the film Tous les matins du monde is continuing his exploration of the repertoire well beyond his original Baroque roots: after setting Beethoven’s symphonies alight, the immense Catalan musician is now conducting Mozart’s operas.

11am, at the Mozarteum :

KAMMERORCHESTER BASEL – W.A. Mozart / A. Salieri

Kammerorchester Basel

Giovanni Antonini ; Conductor

Sabine Meyer : Clarinet

– A. Salieri: Overture to La Grotta di Trofonio

– W.A. Mozart: Concerto for clarinet in A major K. 622

– A. Salieri: Overture to Cesare in Farmacusa

– W.A. Mozart: Serenade in D major K. 320 Posthorn

Poor Salieri, condemned to remain in the shadow of the genius of Mozart, whom he is said to have poisoned out of jealousy, according to the legend of the film Amadeus… In reality, Antonio Salieri was very much in the limelight at the Viennese court and even at Versailles, where his opera Tarare was the greatest operatic success of the reign of Louis XVI. Although he composed a great deal for the operatic stage and the church, Salieri also composed some formidable overtures for orchestra. A great interpreter of the classical and baroque repertoire, Italian conductor Giovanni Antonini is the ideal musician to magnify these rediscovered pages. And as part of the Salzburg Festival, the great clarinettist Sabine Meyer performs Mozart’s immortal concerto.

7:30, at the Grosses Festspielhaus :

WIENER PHILHARMONIKER – W.A. Mozart / J. Haydn / A. Salieri

Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

Andrés Orozco-Estrada : Conductor

Sol Gabetta : Violoncello

Kathryn Lewek : Soprano

Serena Sáenz : Soprano

Theodore Platt : Baryton

Nahuel Di Pierro : Bass

– W.A. Mozart: Symphony in G major K. 318

– J. Haydn: Cello Concerto in C major Hob. VIIb:1

– W.A. Mozart & A. Salieri: Der Schauspieldirektor K. 486, Prima la musica e poi le parole

What a fantastic programme! The springtime Haydn Cello Concerto performed by Sol Gabetta would be enough to satisfy our appetites as music lovers, but this evening conductor Andrés Orozco-Estrada at the helm of the Vienna Philharmonic has come up with an incredible re-creation with the diptych Der Schauspieldirektor and Prima la musica e poi la parole. Written by Mozart and Salieri respectively, these two works were performed on the same day in 1786 because Emperor Joseph II wanted to give the Prince of Saxony all the best that Vienna had to offer in music! The result is two short, breathtaking operas, one about an impresario battling with two female singers for the role of prima donna (Mozart) and the other about a poet and a musician vying for the leading role in the show (Salieri). These two marvellous mises en abyme retain all their modernity and mischief, and the vocal quartet (Kathryn Lewek, Serena Sáenz, Theodore Platt, Nahuel Di Pierro) are irresistibly charming.