![]() Both demonstrated command of Houston’s landmarks and traditions by reciting sections of the children’s book “Goodnight Houston”, a gift brought over during a prior trip. While strolling through Stadtpark, Andrés and Julia shared stories with Gina about their courtship and busy life together in Vienna. On our walk to Stadtpark to meet up with Andrés wife, Julia, and daughter, Laura, following the concert, Gina Gaston asked us about the Houston Symphony’s role as a cultural ambassador and about the virtues and pitfalls associated with outdoor parks concerts. Quite a stunning feat given that the program, as I’ve mentioned previously, was all-Mozart. Several dynamics and phrases were noticeably different from Friday night’s performance and the concert had the feeling of a world premiere. Back inside the Musikverein, I enjoyed an afternoon Tonkünstler concert and marveled at Andrés’ endurance and spontaneity. If you look closely at the bottom right corner of my photo, you will see one of many Tonkünstler Orchester posters displayed throughout the city that feature their current music director (and our incoming maestro!). While the TV crew attempted to climb the Stephansdom’s spire for an elevated view of the city, I snapped a picture of this landmark from street level. Marathon RouteSunday brought beautiful sunshine and the sounds of the Vienna City Marathon to this music capital. ![]() One can’t help but be inspired by Vienna’s musical history and everyday performances in its many stunning performance halls. Following the driving tour, I enjoyed Verdi’s opera Don Carlos at the Staatoper while remembering Andrés’ moving story, told to Gina earlier that day, about his first concert experiences in Vienna at the age of 18. Channel 13’s Gina Gaston helped Andrés cope with his strenuous schedule (two different all-Mozart programs rehearsed and performed over a 36-hour period) by sharing some yoga stretches before continuing their interview from the day before. Johann Strauss statue in StadtparkĮarlier on Saturday, the TV crew returned to the Musikverein to see Andrés rehearsing that evening’s Tonkünstler Orchester program. Outside of the city, we paid homage to a few members of the pantheon of music – Beethoven, Schubert, Brahms and Schoenberg – at their monumental tombstones in Vienna’s Central Cemetery. ![]() Crowds flocked with us to Mozart’s statue in the Imperial Palace gardens, but we happened to be the only visitors to one of Beethoven’s former apartments across the street from the University of Vienna. Wanting to better understand what had drawn Andrés to Vienna in the first place, the TV crew toured Vienna on Saturday afternoon and captured footage of prominent monuments that celebrate Vienna’s inspired past. Mozart statue in the Imperial Palace gardensFollowing a very full first day in Vienna described in my first two postings, we have had the opportunity to explore Vienna’s rich musical history for a series of TV stories that will spotlight both the Houston Symphony’s upcoming centennial celebration and the appointment of Andrés Orozco-Estrada as our 16th music director. Īs I await my flight home to Houston, I am fondly recalling highlights from the final 48 hours of my visit to Vienna with a crew from our official television partner KTRK, Channel 13. The New Year’s Concert 2023 will be conducted for the third time under the baton of Welser-Möst.Mark Hanson, Houston Symphony’s Executive Director/CEO, reports from Vienna: He has twice appeared on the podium for their celebrated New Year's Concert (20) and one time on the podium of the Summer Night’s Concert (2010). Welser-Möst and the Vienna Philharmonic have also performed together at historical memorial concerts in Sarajevo and Versailles. In 2022 Giacomo Puccini’s Il Trittico is programmed.įranz Welser-Möst regularly conducts the orchestra in subscription concerts at the Vienna Musikverein, as well as on tours in Europe, Japan, China and the USA. Franz Welser-Möst returned to Salzburg to conduct further performances of Elektra in 2021. In 2020 he conducted Strauss’ Elektra on the 100th Anniversary of its premiere, and was during that same period awarded the Ruby Festival Brooch. Since 2014 he conducts the orchestra every summer at the Salzburg Festival where he has set new standards in interpretation as an opera conductor with recent performances including Der Rosenkavalier, Fidelio, Die Liebe der Danae, Aribert Reimann's opera Lear and Richard Strauss' Salome, with which he made festival history in 2018. Franz Welser-Möst enjoys a particularly close and productive artistic partnership with the Vienna Philharmonic.
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