Tradition and Vision at the Looshaus
The Looshaus on Michaelerplatz is the setting for a monthly series of talks and music entitled Dem Ton ein Wort, (A Word on Sound) addressing the words and ideas of the leading “craftsmen of modernism” Alfred Loos, Ludwig Wittgenstein and Arnold Schönberg. The series includes chamber music performed by prominent Viennese musicians to compliment the [...]
Cacophony and Plainsong
The piece opens with a choir of car horns in exuberant cacophony. After a first incredulous moment it becomes apparent that there is some reason to this madness: In this din of hiccupping hocket there is actually a melody of sorts. And the percussionists positioned behind their battery of instruments, horns and all, look like [...]
The ‘Jazz Heart’ Transplant
On Ash Wednesday just past, the U.S. Embassy, the Austrian Foreign Ministry and Diplomatische Akademie Wien joined forces to celebrate the 175th anniversary of U.S.-Austrian diplomatic relations with a Gala Event which, not incidentally, featured music performed by the Jon Sass Group, a multi-national quartet led by American jazz tuba(!) exponent Jon Sass. Perhaps inspired [...]
MuTh: Music for the Next Hundred Years
After 514 years of wandering from stage to stage, the Vienna Boys’ Choir (Sängerknaben) finally has a place to perform that they can call their own: the MuTh concert hall, which was inaugurated on 9 December. The date was just a few weeks shy of a century since the last major concert hall opened in Vienna, [...]
China Meets Austria at the Musikverein
“China Meets Austria” at the Musikverein is a night of symphonies, part of the greater Chinese Spring Festival, which aims to foster cultural connections between the young generations of the two countries. A mix of Chinese and Austrian musicians and orchestras will perform, including youth groups. Highlights of the eclectic programme include “In the Hall [...]
Sacrosanto: Finding the Holy Place
Herbert Willi is a small man with a shock of white hair, a slight build and calm, blue eyes. He agreed to meet just after the Wednesday rehearsal of his violin concerto Sacrosanto that would have its world premiere with soloist Nikolaj Znaider and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra (PSO) under principal conductor Manfred Honeck one [...]
Manfred Honeck’s Requiem
The opening concert of the Pittsburgh Symphony Vienna tour fell on Thursday, 1 November, Allerheiligen, the Feast of All Saints. This a special occasion here, more than in the English-speaking world, when tradition escorts the Viennese to the graves of their ancestors, when the ageless sense of continuity is particularly strong. It’s a sense that [...]
Breaking (Down) the Waves
It was early October, and Vienna’s pop music crowd was flocking to Pratersauna, Flex, Fluc, and beyond, for the Waves festival, Vienna’s showcase happening. The idea was inspired, a one-ticket event and with individual day tickets available to buy. Three days of bands in club venues, plus a music conference spanning the city made for [...]
Wohnzimmer as Concert Hall
Given Vienna’s rich artistic history, wanderings on the city streets easily led to imagining the lives of the former denizens of the flats above. Should there be any doubt, it often seems as though a plaque commemorating the living space of some well-known composer or musician sits proudly above at least one door on nearly [...]
