June 26 to July 26, 2015
… and laughed :)
Classical music is supposed to be serious business. Why else would we separate popular
music from serious music? The styriarte will remove this separation: the 2015 styriarte
Festival is all about laughter – in all its forms. It will resound with liberating laughter as well
as malicious mockery, with the jester of the Middle Ages as well as the Opera buffa, with the
romantic irony as well as the bitter sarcasm of the 20th century.
In Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s world, laughter is frowned upon, as it always bears the seed of
malice. Hence, his three large-scale productions represent the corrective element of the
2015 styriarte, so to speak. In Stainz, Harnoncourt conducts Haydn – the master of brilliant
wit. Of course, his Symphony No. 97 is followed by the “Kettledrum Mass”, a testimony to
the deadly seriousness of the Revolutionary Wars. After all these battles had been fought,
Ludwig van Beethoven composed his “Missa solemnis” as a “prayer for inner and outer
peace”. For the first time, Harnoncourt will conduct this piece in the original sound of his
Concentus Musicus Wien – a memorial within this styriarte of cheerfulness. Antonín
Dvořák’s mood swings were legendary: all of a sudden, his laughter would turn into tears,
just like his music, which Harnoncourt will present together with the Chamber Orchestra of
Europe at the Stefaniensaal.
It’s not a long way from Dvořák to The Good Soldier Švejk, whose absurd humour turned the
machinery of the Austro-Hungarian administration upside down. One of the 2015 styriarte
SOAPs is dedicated to him, coupled of course with music by Dvořák. The other SOAP heroes
in July 2015 come from Austria, Hungary and Italy: György Ligeti, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
and Gioachino Rossini, all of whom were notorious for their very special sense of humour.
The Austrians and Germans, the Italians and the English all have an entirely different kind of
humour. This is an observation anyone can make. At the styriarte, it is tangible: the Italians
come to Graz as specialists in buffonesque humour, with Rossini and his “Barber of Seville”,
staged by Michael Hofstetter and Peer Boysen – in German! Already in 1819, the people of
Graz succeeded in putting Rossini’s humour into German words. This first German
translation of the “Barber” will now return to its birthplace for the 2015 styriarte. In
response to the Italian Rossini, the English counter with their “British Humour”, the Catalan
Jordi Savall with music by Tobias Hume and the Austrian HK Gruber with his
“Frankenstein!!”. Laughter is explicitly encouraged in all these pieces. And it is supposed to
be healthy as well. After all, based on Genesis 17:17, the styriarte laughter has biblical
legitimacy: Abraham fell facedown and “...he laughed” when his God told him that he would
become a father again at the age of one hundred. It is exactly this laughter that the 2015
styriarte owes its motto and inspiration to.
Friday, June 26 – Graz Schlossberg, 6pm
… und lachte
Opening of the styriarte festival 2015
with very cheerful starters to the 2015 styriarte programme
and as a finale:
„A Little Nightmare Music“
with Igudesman & Joo (Kasemattenbühne, 8.30pm)
Netnakisum, Vokalensemble Lalá, Igudesman & Joo etc.
Fest on the Schlossberg: free of charge
Prices for the finale at the Kasematten stage: EUR 46 / 34 / 18
A large open-air event for adults and children between the Bürgerbastei, the Uhrturm and
the Hackher Löwe. The topics of the laughing styriarte will be staged in small portions at the
most beautiful locations on the Schlossberg. And for the finale, the extraordinarily funny duo
Igudesman & Joo will perform their music cabaret “A Little Nightmare Music” at the
Kasemattenbühne on the Schlossberg. For this final act, you will need a ticket, but it will also
resound all over the Schlossberg plateau. Here and everywhere else on the hill, admission is
free.
Saturday, June 27 – Monastery St. Lambrecht, 6pm
Der Name der Rose
Texts from Umberto Eco’s novel “The Name of the Rose”
music from the 14th century in Italy (Francesco Landini a. o.)
chorales and early polyphony
Ensemble Santenay:
Julla von Landsberg, vocals & organetto
Elodie Wiemer, recorder
Szilárd Chereji, viella
Orí Harmelin, lute
Wiener Choralschola
Michael Dangl, reading
Price: EUR 46
Laughter has always been a thorn in the side of religious fanatics: in his bestseller “The
Name of the Rose”, Umberto Eco describes how a fanatic friar in early-Trecento Italy
becomes a murderer in order to conceal Aristotle’s book on comedy from the eyes of
mankind. The styriarte exposes his dark deeds – within the ancient walls of a monastery,
with Michael Dangl as the narrator and with authentic music from the 14 th century.
Saturday, June 27 – Stefaniensaal, 8pm
Sunday, June 28 – Stefaniensaal, 8pm
Dvořák pur
Dvořák: The Golden Spinning Wheel, op. 109
Symphony no. 8 in G major, op. 88
A lecture-concert, presented by Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Chamber Orchestra of Europe
Conductor: Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Prices: EUR 125 / 100 / 75 / 50 / 25
Dvořák’s Symphony No. 8 opens with a movement of deep melancholy until the birdcall of a
flute comes in to awaken the spirits of the Bohemian forests. Nikolaus Harnoncourt and the
Chamber Orchestra of Europe enjoy the sudden changes of mood in Dvořák’s music to the
full. 16 years after his legendary recording at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Harnoncourt
presents his Dvořák without any wisdom of age – just as juicy and youthful as at the
premiere. To ensure that the audience does not miss a single detail from the fairytale of
“The Golden Spinning Wheel”, Harnoncourt will lead the audience through the evening
himself – in his figurative language. Laughing is permitted, even if the subject is deadly
serious.
Sunday, June 28 – Schloss Eggenberg, 11am
Opera buffa
A matinee at Planetensaal
followed by a picnic in the palace park
Mozart: Serenade in C minor, K 388
Harmoniemusik arrangements from “Le nozze di Figaro”, K 492
Harmoniemusik arrangements from “The Barber of Seville”
Ensemble Zefiro:
Alfredo Bernardini & Paolo Grazzi, oboe
Lorenzo Coppola & Danilo Zauli, clarinet
Dileno Baldin & Francesco Meucci, French horn
Alberto Grazzi & Giorgio Mandolesi, bassoon
Prices: EUR 46 / 34 / 18
Picnic box: EUR 15
Mozart and Rossini managed to evoke much more than just a good mood with their opere
buffe. Human misery, wrapped with the most beautiful melodies – this also works without a
singer, with only the wind section of the Harmoniemusik. Being Italian themselves, the wind
players of Zefiro know exactly how to play with breathtaking beauty while being
excruciatingly funny at the same time. And after the concert in the Planetensaal, the event
moves to the picnic lawn in the gorgeous palace grounds. Tuck in while the music plays.
Monday, June 29 – Schloss Eggenberg, 8pm
Cello Duello
Haydn: Duett in D major
Servais: Caprice
Eichberg: Toccata
Barrière: Sonata no. 4 in G major
Popper: Suite
Paganini: Variations on Rossini’s “Mosè”
Cello Duello:
Jens Peter Maintz, violoncello
Wolfgang Emanuel Schmidt, violoncello
Preise: EUR 46 / 34 / 18
Two master cellists break down the prejudice about the humourless Germans in a playful
way. The two professors from Berlin engage – rather unacademically – in a “Cello Duello”.
With a wink, they juggle with the rapid cascades of Popper and Paganini or have an ironic
musical conversation à la Haydn and Barrièrre. To put it simply: have a good time! Or as the
Berliner Zeitung put it in their headline: “Salto mortale on strings”.
Tuesday, June 30 – Orpheum, 8pm
Scherzi musicali
Monteverdi: Comic scenes from “Scherzi musicali” (1628) and from his operas
Marini: scherzos, canzonettes a. o.
La Venexiana:
Francesca Lombardi Mazzulli, soprano
Alberto Allegrezza, & Alessio Tosi, tenors
Mauro Borgioni, baritone
Efix Puleo & Daniela Godio, violin
Luca Moretti, viola
Alberto Lo Gatto, double bass
Chiara Granata, Baroque harp / Gabriele Palomba, chitarrone
Direction: Claudio Cavina, harpsichord
Prices: EUR 46 / 34 / 18
As his only comic opera has been lost over the course of time, one has to look elsewhere for
the comedy in Monteverdi’s music: in his madrigal books. The specialists of La Venexiana
contrast his “Scherzi musicali” with the grotesque scenes from the operas. An evening full of
erotically charged humour – tailor-made for Francesca Lombardi Mazzulli and her colleagues
from the lagoon city of Venice. The first part of vocal fireworks at the Orpheum Graz, which,
after all, got its name from Orpheus, the divine singer.
Wednesday, July 1 – Orpheum, 8pm
British Humour
Cross-country through the heights of a cappella singing
with music by William Byrd, Giovanni Gabrieli,
George Gershwin, John Dowland, Andrew Lloyd-Webber,
The Beatles, Duke Ellington and others
Voces8
(A-cappella ensemble)
Prices: EUR 46 / 34 / 18
Whenever these Britons appear on stage, it is impossible suppress a smile: the eight singers
of Voces8 do not only sing with exceptional beauty, they have also perfected the art of
singing a cappella with a measure of understatement and more than a pinch of “British
Humour”. Whether it’s Gershwin or Gabrieli, John Dowland or James Bond – for each piece,
they find the perfect formation, flawless sounds and the most suitable facial expression. The
second part of the vocal fireworks at the Orpheum Graz, which started the day before.
Wednesday, July 1 & Thursday, July 2 – Seifenfabrik Graz, 8pm
Yitzhak: und Gott lachte
Jewish humour and the music of the Klezmorim
Giora Feidman, clarinet
Gitanes Blondes:
Mario Korunic, violin
Konstantin Ischenko, accordion
Christoph Peters, guitar
Simon Ackermann, double bass
Miguel Herz-Kestranek, reading
Prices: EUR 46 / 34 / 18
Music can save lives – and so can humour. This concept is repeated in the songs sung and
jokes told by Jewish families. “Yitzhak”, “he laughed” – this is what the patriarch Abraham
named his son. Giora Feidman smiles with every sound from his clarinet as well. It has
become the symbol for Klezmer, the music of the joy of life, which even survived the misery
of the ghettos. In Graz, Feidmann’s clarinet pairs with the sharp Jewish humour of the
stories brought along by Miguel Herz-Kestranek. The opening to a series featuring literature
and music, always held on Thursday nights at the Seifenfabrik in a café atmosphere.
Friday, July 3 – Helmut List Halle, 7pm
Sunday, July 5 – Helmut List Halle, 11am (matinee)
Tuesday, July 7 – Helmut List Halle, 7pm
Der Barbier von Sevilla
Gioachino Rossini: The Barber of Seville
(Comic opera in the German version first performed in Graz in 1819. Translated by Ignaz
Kollmann)
Marie Friederike Schöder, soprano (Rosina)
Daniel Johannsen, tenor (Almaviva)
Miljenko Turk, bass (Figaro)
Josef Wagner, bass (Basilio)
Bibiana Nwobilo, soprano (Berta)
Ludwig Mittelhammer, baritone (Fiorillo), a. o.
styriarte Festspiel-Orchester
Conductor: Michael Hofstetter
Scenic arrangements: Peer Boysen
Prices: EUR 90 / 70 / 50 / 32 / 21
Rossini’s “Barber” was not an immediate success at the 1816 premiere in Rome, but the
hissing of the ill-tempered critics couldn’t stop Figaro’s worldwide success. As early as 1819,
it had reached Graz where the German translation of the “Barber” was brought to the stage
for the first time. Michael Hofstetter and his stage director Peer Boysen bring this version to
light again. The young team of singers and the styriarte Festival Orchestra playing on gut
strings will do the rest to turn this evening into a firework display of Rossini’s music.
Saturday, July 4 – Freilichtmuseum Stübing, 6pm
(in case of rain on July 5) end at c. 10pm
Mit’n Kopf zsamm …
A small baroque court society looks for fun in the Stübing valley. A cheerful group of farmers
see their behaviour as an opportunity for a delightful parody.
Neue Hofkapelle Graz
Citoller Tanzgeiger
Adrian Schvarzstein, factotum, a. o.
Price: EUR 33
What happens when an aristocratic baroque couple, accompanied by their court ensemble,
winds up in rural Stübing? Lots of unusual, funny, erotic and inflammatory antics, that’s for
sure. Especially since a cunning servant has deliberately arranged this game of confusion and
the country folk find the whole spectacle outright hilarious. A styriarte outing that not only
promises a tailor-made role for virtuoso comedian Adrian Schvarzstein, but also a great deal
of fun and musical contrasts, featuring the baroque experts of the Neue Hofkapelle Graz and
the passionate Citoller Tanzgeiger folk musicians. And yes, of course there will be dancing as
well!
Saturday, July 4 – Stefaniensaal, 8pm
Sunday, July 5 – Stefaniensaal, 8pm
Monday, July 6 – Stefaniensaal, 8pm
Missa solemnis
Beethoven: Missa solemnis in D major, op. 123
Laura Aikin, soprano
Bernarda Fink, alto
Johannes Chum, tenor
Ruben Drole, bass
Arnold Schoenberg Chor
Concentus Musicus Wien
Conductor: Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Prices: EUR 150 / 120 / 90 / 60 / 25
Nikolaus Harnoncourt conducts Beethoven’s “Missa solemnis” in the original sounds of the
Concentus Musicus Wien for the first time. For this unique event, the festival will take a
break from the cheer and will become serious for the course of three evenings. The Arnold
Schoenberg Chor will take up the challenge of Beethoven’s extreme acoustic range. The
audience can look forward to once again seeing the four wonderful soloists, who have
already taken a variety of different roles, ranging from Handel to Offenbach, in Graz.
Tuesday, July 7 – Schloss Eggenberg, 8pm
Der Kongress tanzt
Schubert: Marche Militaire in D major, op. 51/2, D 733
Grande Marche in G minor, op. 40/2, D 819
Four Polonaises, op. 75, D 599
Fantasy in F minor, op. 103, D 940
Beethoven: Three marches in C major, E flat major und D major, op. 45
Fugue for piano four hands in B flat major, op. 134
GrauSchumacher Piano Duo:
Andreas Grau & Götz Schumacher, piano
Prices: EUR 46 / 34 / 18
It was not only the aging Beethoven whose laughter was brought to a halt by the Congress of
Vienna. The young Viennese liberals had to stand by helplessly as well while the hopes of
their generation were destroyed by the elite, who enjoyed themselves at the Vienna
Redoutensäle while secretly establishing tyranny in Europe for decades to come. Schubert
dedicated some of his most beautiful and sad works for piano four-hands to this
contradiction. Beethoven too first composed magnificent marches for those in power, only
to predict their downfall in the frenzy of the “Great Fugue” years later.
Wednesday, July 8 – Stefaniensaal, 8pm
Das Grab ist meine Freude
Franz Schubert: Choirs on the edge of the grave
(Totengräberlied, D 38, Der Geistertanz, D 116, a. o.)
Johannes Brahms: motets (Warum ist das Licht gegeben den Mühseligen a. o.)
Liebeslieder-Walzer, op. 52
Arnold Schoenberg Chor
Direction: Erwin Ortner
Prices: EUR 46 / 34 / 18
The Viennese poet Salomon Hermann Mosenthal used to joke that Brahms would sing “Das
Grab ist meine Freude” (the grave is my greatest pleasure) whenever he was in a good
mood. Franz Schubert took his very own pleasure in funeral songs and grave diggers’ tunes
as well – not Lutheran North German, but Viennese-morbid. The Arnold Schoenberg Chor
plunges with passion into this tension between life and death, between bitterness and irony
when singing Brahms and Schubert at the Stefaniensaal – led fantastically by Erwin Ortner.
Thursday, July 9 – Seifenfabrik Graz, 8pm
Ulenspiegel
A medieval music programme from Till Eulenspiegel’s era with songs and instrumental music
from the “Carmina burana”, an anonymous manuscript from London and a reading from the
oldest version of the story of Till Eulenspiegel “Ein kurtzweilig Lesen von Dyl Ulenspiegel, …
wie er sein leben volbracht hat” (around 1510/1515)
Ensemble Oni wytars
Direction: Marco Ambrosini, nyckelharpa
Julius Feldmeier, reading
Prices: EUR 46 / 34 / 18
Johannes Grüninger, a publisher from Strasbourg, promised his readers “an entertaining
read”, when he printed “Dyl Ulenspiegel” in 1510. Eulenspiegel’s ride through the pots of
the market women became a legend and has inspired many, including Richard Strauss, to
compose music. Marco Ambrosini found the matching music to Eulenspiegel’s jokes in a
famous medieval collection: the “Carmina Burana”. Furthermore, Julius Feldmeier will
capture the audience in an entertaining reading. This is the second evening of our series
featuring literature and music at the Seifenfabrik.
Friday, July 10 – Helmut List Halle, 8pm
Sunday, July 12 – Helmut List Halle, 11am *
Eulenspiegeleien
Mendelssohn: A Midsummernight’s Dream (Overture), op. 21
HK Gruber: Frankenstein!! A pan-demonium for chansonnier and orchestra after children’s
rhymes by H.C. Artmann
Korngold: Much Ado about Nothing, op. 11 (Suite)
Strauss: Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, op. 28
HK Gruber, chansonnier
styriarte Festspiel-Orchester
Conductor: Michael Hofstetter
Prices: EUR 62 / 50 / 40 / 30 / 18
* The following family offer applies to the matinée on 12 July: two children’s tickets (€5
each) can be purchased in addition to each regular ticket. Recommended for children aged
eight or older.
The affable jesters of world literature, summoned by Michael Hofstetter and the styriarte
Festival Orchestra. The sounds whirr and buzz through the Helmut List Halle when Puck and
Bottom, Eulenspiegel, Dogberry and Verges are up to mischief. Watch out! A little monster
from Vienna is here as well! HK Gruber interprets the chansonnier himself in his
international hit “Frankenstein!!”.
Saturday, July 11 – Aula der Alten Universität, 8pm
Karneval in Venedig
Vivaldi: Concerti grossi and Solo concertos for strings
(Sinfonia in D major, RV 125, Double concerto in C major, RV 508 a. o.)
Harmonie Universelle
Direction: Florian Deuter, violin
Prices: EUR 46 / 34 / 18
Back before the “Carnevale di Venezia” became a costume spectacle for tourists and was still
a volcanic eruption of the joy of life, a small, red-haired priest mixed with the carnival
revellers: Don Antonio Vivaldi. Many of his string concertos resonate the unrestrained joie
de vivre of the carnival. Florian Deuter and the baroque string players of Harmonie
Universelle give a magnificent impression of this masquerade – even without the masks.
Saturday, July 11 – Pfarrkirche Stainz, 8.30pm
Sunday, July 12 – Pfarrkirche Stainz, 8.30pm
In tempore belli
Haydn: Symphony no. 97 in C major, Hob. I: 97
Missa in tempore belli in C major, Hob. XXII: 9, “Kettledrum Mass”
Sylvia Schwartz, soprano
Elisabeth von Magnus, mezzo soprano
Daniel Johannsen, tenor
Ruben Drole, bass
Arnold Schoenberg Chor
Concentus Musicus Wien
Conductor: Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Prices: EUR 150 / 120 / 90 / 60 / 25
Twenty years ago in Stainz, Nikolaus Harnoncourt started his unforgotten cycle of Joseph
Haydn’s late masses. At the age of 85, he once again returns to the “Kettledrum Mass”, the
“Missa in tempore belli”, in which Haydn made abundantly clear how much his fellow
countrymen feared the French revolutionary troops. Symphony No. 97 is more than just a
magnificent overture to this. The war between France and Austria had long been looming on
the horizon when Haydn swept away the London audience in the swirl of this symphony in C
major in 1792 – a dance on the volcano.
Monday, July 13 – Aula der Alten Universität, 8pm
Das Lächeln der Mona Lisa
Frottolas, villottas, dances and carnival songs at the court of Pope Leo X. (Rome around
1510) by Bartolomeo Tromboncino, Marco Cara, Antonio Caprioli, Costanzo Festa,
Sebastiano Festa a. o.
Concerto Romano:
Carla Nahadi Babelegoto, mezzo soprano
Andrés Montilla Acurero, alto
Luca Cervoni, tenor
Giacomo Farioli, bass
Serena Bellini, recorders
Francesco Tomasi, lute & guitar
Massimiliano Dragoni, percussion
Direction: Alessandro Quarta, vocals
Prices: EUR 46 / 34 / 18
Why is Mona Lisa smiling? According to Italian art historian Roberto Zapperi, Mona Lisa’s
smile was an attempt by Giuliano de’ Medici to comfort his little son, who had lost his
mother much too soon. As Medici was the pope’s brother, Alessandro Quarta and his Roman
ensemble lead us to the cheerful court of Leo X., where the Vatican court jesters are the
kings of the castle. Music was allowed to smile as well – in Mona Lisa’s Rome.
Tuesday, July 14 – Stefaniensaal, 8pm
The Joke
Haydn: String quartet in E flat major, op. 33/2, Hob. III: 38, “The Joke”
Mozart: String quartet in E flat major, K 428
Haydn: String quartet in G major, op. 77/1, Hob. III: 81
Quatuor Mosaïques:
Erich Höbarth & Andrea Bischof, violins
Anita Mitterer, viola
Christophe Coin, violoncello
Prices: EUR 46 / 34 / 18
A guide to the jokes in Haydn’s string quartets has yet to be written. The Quartet in E-flat
major from Opus 33 concludes with such a “joke” – not a cliché pun, but a joke that can still
be told 230 years later. Erich Höbarth and his colleagues from Mosaïques tell it with
Viennese humour and in the original sound. Mozart’s “Haydn Quartet” in E-flat major and
Haydn’s third to last quartet round off this festively cheerful evening at the Stefaniensaal.
Wednesday, July 15 – Helmut List Halle, 7pm
Rossini.SOAP
Cheerful chamber music (quartets, duos for cello and contrabass),
ariettas and grand scenes of the opera by Gioachino Rossini
Stendhal and Mendelssohn tell the story of the master from Pesaro
Chen Reiss, soprano
Stephanie Houtzeel, mezzo soprano
Maria Bader-Kubizek & Markus Hoffmann, violins
Christophe Coin, violoncello / Georg Kroneis, double bass
Stefan Gottfried, fortepiano
N.N., reading
Prices: EUR 60 / 42 / 21
Each note brings the audience to laughter – this is how they know and love their Rossini. In
the styriarte Rossini.SOAP the mix of music alone is magnificent: Stephanie Houtzeel and
Chen Reiss stage the “Humorous Duet for two Cats” and other comical songs. Inbetween,
the two ladies sing grand scenes for prima donnas – after all, Rossini was married to one and
earned his money with the opera seria. Everything else that the hilariously funny genius
came up with is told through instruments: a grotesque train ride over the keys of a piano, a
thunderstorm in the sound of four string players – Rossini barely managed to keep his
comical ideas under control.
Thursday, July 16 – Seifenfabrik Graz, 8pm
Vom lieben Augustin
Viennese music and texts about the Viennese,
who faces death with laughter.
An evening with literature and music at the Seifenfabrik.
Agnes Palmisano, vocals
Schrammelensemble:
Daniel Fuchsberger, contra guitar
Roland Sulzer, accordion a. o.
Gregor Seberg, reading
Prices: EUR 46 / 34 / 18
The bagpipe player Marx Augustin, the dear Augustin, is the epitome of Viennese humour.
According to legend, he was lying in the street so drunk that people believed him dead and
buried him. It was only because he woke up in his grave and continued to sing and play
cheerfully that he was found and rescued. This balancing on the edge of a grave, dead drunk
and addicted to life at the same time, has been a common thread running through Viennese
music and poetry for centuries. Together with a fine Schrammelmusik ensemble, singer and
bagpiper Agnes Palmisano and actor Gregor Seberg go looking for laughter in the face of
death – in melodies and texts from Raimund to Kreisler and from Nestroy to Artmann.
Friday, July 17 – Helmut List Halle, 8pm
Leben ist immer lebensgefährlich
Erich Kästner: Die 13 Monate a. o.,
with music by Beethoven, Schumann, Schubert a. o.
Markus Schirmer, piano
Wolfram Berger, reading
Prices: EUR 46 / 34 / 18
All aboard! Markus Schirmer and Wolfram Berger invite the audience to a “roller-coaster
ride with music and poetry” in their brand-new programme. “13 months” was Erich
Kästner’s title for his biting, satirical calendar. Markus Schirmer wraps Kästner’s words in
melodies on the grand piano, he strokes and boxes, knocks Beethoven off his pedestal and
takes a short side trip to Absurdistan. Hot, cold, fresh, affectionate and alive with poetry. A
surprise in black and white, and yet in full colour.
Saturday, July 18 – Helmut List Halle, 7pm
Mozart.SOAP
Mozart: A Musical Joke, K 522 and other amusing chamber music and songs by Mozart
Reading from Mozart’s letters and early biographies
Sophie Karthäuser, soprano
Stefan Gottfried, fortepiano
Soloists of the Hofkapelle München
Direction: Rüdiger Lotter, violin
Johannes Silberschneider, reading
Prices: EUR 60 / 42 / 21
For the Italians, Mozart is a melancholic. The Frenchman Stendhal claimed that Mozart had
been happy only twice in his entire life. We know better – thanks to his letters. Johannes
Silberschneider follows the masquerades of the genius from Salzburg in a reading, while the
Hofkapelle München and Rüdiger Lotter play Mozart in his original sound to tell his jokes as
drastically as possible. There will also be a sung “moto di gioia” – a laughing Mozart.SOAP for
sure!
Sunday, July 19 – Schloss Eggenberg, 11am
La Barca
A matinee at Planetensaal
followed by a picnic in the palace park
Banchieri: La Barca da Venezia a Padova
(madrigal comedy, 1605)
Veronika Winter & Verena Gropper, sopranos
Tobias Hunger, tenor
Christos Pelekanos, bass, a. o.
Austrian Baroque Connection
Thomas Höft, narrator
Prices: EUR 46 / 34 / 18
Picnic box: EUR 15
A drunk German, a grumpy book dealer and a smug tenor – these are only three of many
strange passengers on a boat trip from Venice to Padua. The great humorist Adriano
Banchieri turned their grotesque adventures into a thrilling madrigal comedy. Thomas Höft
tells the timeless story of a boat cruise into the blue – just the right programme for Schloss
Eggenberg and the magnificent park: set out with a wink on a search of the all-too-human
element during the concert in the castle or during the musical picnic in the park.
Monday, July 20 – MUMUTH, 8pm
Gli Scherzi
Dvořák: Scherzo from piano quintet in A major, op. 81
Six premieres of six scherzos by Austrian composers (Commissioned by the 2015 styriarte):
Belma Bešlić-Gál (Sarajewo)
Angélica Castelló (Mexico City)
Johanna Doderer (Wien)
Maria Gstättner (Steiermark)
Mirela Ivičević (Split)
Manuela Kerer (Brixen)
Schubert: Scherzo from piano quintet in A major, D 667, “The Trout”
Soloists from the styriarte Festspiel-Orchester:
Annelie Gahl, violin
Anna Lindenbaum, viola
Rafal Zalech, viola
Andreas Lindenbaum, violoncello
Michael Seyfried, double bass
Janna Polyzoides, piano
Presentation: Mathis Huber
Prices: EUR 46 / 34 / 18
As the editorial closing date for this programme was approaching, it still looked like a vast
construction site, but it will become one of the most exciting projects of the 2015 styriarte.
We ask seven male and female composers who live and work in Austria today whether there
is anything to laugh about in contemporary music, whether they like to joke around and if
so, how it sounds. Two scherzos by Dvořák and Schubert provide the frame for the new
pieces and also define their composition: piano quintet plus double bass. Stay up to date on
where this project is going by following it on our homepage www.styriarte.com.
Tuesday, July 21 – Helmut List Halle, 8pm
Musica ricercata
Prokofieff: Sarcasmes
Kurtág: from the diary
Ligeti: from Musica ricercata & Études
Monument – Selbstportrait – Bewegung (for 2 pianos) a. o.
Pierre-Laurent Aimard, piano
Tamara Stefanovich, piano
Prices: EUR 46 / 34 / 18
One day before the Ligeti.SOAP, Pierre-Laurent Aimard also dedicates his piano skills to the
genius from Hungary. Throughout his life, Ligeti regretted not being a better pianist. Aimard
gets the exact brilliance that the composer himself could only imagine from his pieces. He
builds bridges from Ligeti to Prokofieff and Debussy, Haydn and Kurtág – a European
panorama of sarcastic humour on two sets of 88 keys.
Wednesday, July 22 – Helmut List Halle, 7pm
Ligeti.SOAP
Ligeti: music from “Le Grand Macabre”
6 Bagatelles for wind quintet (from “Musica ricercata”, 1953)
Poème Symphonique for 100 metronomes
chamber music, piano pieces
reading from Libretto of “Le Grand Macabre” and other texts by György Ligeti
Marie Friederike Schöder, soprano
Soloists of the styriarte Festspiel-Orchester
Conductor: Michael Hofstetter
Johanna Wokalek, reading
Prices: EUR 60 / 42 / 21
Laughter is not really an essential element of 20th century classical music, but everything is
different when it comes to György Ligeti. The grandmaster of irony and the grotesque is – as
Pierre-Lauren Aimard puts it – a composer “whose music is so deep and who does not take
himself too seriously”. He allows us to laugh even about death, the final authority, especially
in the unique opera “Le Grand Macabre”, whose absurd highlights also shine through in our
Ligeti.SOAP. Soloists of the styriarte Festival Orchestra and Marie Friederike Schöder bring a
breathtaking spectacle of contemporary music to the stage.
Thursday, July 23 – Helmut List Halle, 8pm
Ridente la calma
Mozart: Symphonies in D major, K 196/121 and in A major, K 114
Se l’augellin sen fugge & Dolce d’amor compagna from “La finta giardiniera”
Dunque sperar poss’io – Il tenero momento from “Lucio Silla”
Ridente la calma
Deh, per questo istante solo from “La clemenza di Tito”
Mysliveček: Overture to “Ezio”
Il caro mio bene from “Armida”
Sacchini: Vieni, o caro amato bene / Placa lo sdegno, o cara from “Il Cid”
Valer Sabadus, countertenor
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Conductor: Michael Hofstetter
Prices: EUR 62 / 50 / 40 / 30 / 18
The soul’s smile shines from the delicate arias that Mozart wrote for the young castratos of
his time. Valer Sabadus brilliantly takes them to the countertenor Fach and pays his respects
to Mozart’s great idols as well. The Florentine Antonio Sacchini was a master of simple,
beautiful melodies; the Bohemian Josef Mysliveček was a great artist of flourishing
orchestral sounds. One of his arias was so beautiful that it was later attributed to Mozart:
“Ridente la calma”.
Friday, July 24 – Stefaniensaal, 8pm
Musicall Humors
Tobias Hume: Musicall Humors (1605)
Jordi Savall, viola da gamba
Prices: EUR 46 / 34 / 18
One of the most fascinating characters from Elizabethan England is a man who described
himself as a “soldier and musician”: Captain Tobias Hume. Hume composed groundbreaking
musical pieces and gave performances himself, playing the viol and singing, both in the
infamous drinking holes of London as well as in the presence of princes and kings (at least
that’s what he boastfully claimed). He was an exceptionally gifted entertainer and a
notorious joker. The fine art of composition and drastic sensuality blend in the most
inimitable way in his pieces. Jordi Savall, master of the viola da gamba, presents the most
beautiful works from Hume’s collection “Musicall Humors”.
Saturday, July 25 – Helmut List Halle, 7pm
Dvořák & Schwejk.SOAP
Dvořák: piano trio in E minor, op. 90 / Slavonic Dances from op. 46 /
Humoresques for piano, op. 101 a. o.
Moravian duets, op. 32
Reading from Jaroslav Hašek: “Der brave Soldat Schwejk”
Simona Šaturová, soprano
Dvořák Trio:
Jan Fišer, violin
Tomáš Jamník, violoncello
Ivo Kahánek, piano
Heinz Marecek, reading
Prices: EUR 60 / 42 / 21
In the words of Jaroslav Hašek and accompanied by the sounds from Antonin Dvořák, our
SOAP follows the two most famous Czechs to their native country. Dvořák’s “Humoresque”
became a worldwide hit. And yet the “Dumka” was more characteristic of the master from
Central Bohemia: the constant change between dolefulness and infectious cheerfulness.
What else could the Czech people of his time do but take the political gagging with absurd
humour? Ten years after Dvořák’s death, the good soldier Švejk gets into trouble with the
Austro-Hungarian administration and nearly unhinges the cruel courts and secret police with
his nonsense. A dream part for Heinz Marecek.
Sunday, July 26 – Schloss Eggenberg, 11am
Der Schneider Kakadu
Beethoven: Variations on “Ich bin der Schneider Kakadu”, op. 121a
Mozart: Violin sonata in A major, K 526
Haydn: Piano trios in E flat major, Hob. XV:31, and in E flat major, Hob. XV:30
ensemble federspiel:
Fritz Kircher, violin
Isolde Hayer, violoncello
Florian Birsak, fortepiano
Prices: EUR 46 / 34 / 18
“The main thing is, it has to be comical; for I know the taste of the Viennese.” Haydn and
Beethoven took to their hearts what Mozart had written to his father in 1783. The Viennese
people wished to be entertained – be it with the “Kakadu Variations”, a “Gypsy Rondo” or
the funny punchlines of a violin sonata. Florian Birsak and his trio partners show us the
Viennese classics from their funniest side.
Sunday, July 26 – Helmut List Halle, 8pm
Lob der Torheit
Erasmus von Rotterdam: The Praise of Folly
Music from the era of Erasmus von Rotterdam
by Ortiz, Dufay, Gesualdo, Josquin, Hassler a. o.
La Capella Reial de Catalunya
Hespèrion XXI
Idea and direction: Jordi Savall
Prices: EUR 60 / 42 / 21
Making world literature resound in music – nobody else today manages to do that as
impressively as Jordi Savall. For his most recent musical panorama the philosopher among
the musicians has picked a superb satire: the “Praise of Folly” by Erasmus of Rotterdam.
Folly herself explains while laughing how she dominates the world with all its learned minds.
Jordi Savall and his musicians spread the world of the humanist Erasmus with music from the
Dutch and Spanish renaissance and weave sephardic sounds and Islamic music into a large
picture that tells about humanity’s fight against intolerance and ignorance.
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The cheerful, musical side of Graz
A city tour with a note of humour
The GrazGuides offer a lively guided tour of the city filled with laughter and music. The walk
features comedians and musicians, the students’ “Gaudeamus igitur” and the art of laughter
– as well as many enchanting encounters.
The guided tours take place on five Saturdays:
June 27, July 4, July 11, July 18 and July 25, 2015
Start: at 10:30am and 11am
Meeting point: fountain in the Grazer Stadtpark
Duration: approx. 2 hours
Price: EUR 21
Tickets are available in the styriarte ticket office.
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styriarte ticket office
Sackstrasse 17, 8010 Graz, Austria
Tel.: 0043.316.825 000 (Fax: -15)
tickest@styriarte.com
www.styriarte.com