True to tradition, the Vienna Philharmonic will perform in four opera productions and five concerts: Nikolaus Harnoncourt opens the concert program of the 2009 Salzburg Festival with Franz Schubert and Josef Strauß, leading the “Viennese”. Esa-Pekka Salonen, Riccardo Muti, Franz Welser-Möst and first-time conductor Gustavo Dudamel follow him in the Vienna Philharmonic series.
In addition, there will be three Orchestras in Residence: the Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen conducted by Paavo Järvi will present a Beethoven cycle in Salzburg. Les Musiciens du Louvre – Grenoble and Marc Minkowski will dedicate three concerts to Joseph Haydn. Daniel Barenboim will lead the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra in two concert performances of Beethoven’s Fidelio, a public master class, an orchestra concert featuring works by Liszt, Wagner and Berlioz, and two chamber music concerts.
Edgard Varèse (1885–1965), an American composer with French roots, is the dedicatee of the Continents series this year. Eight concert programs introduce audiences to the works of this cosmopolitan and initiator of Musique concrète: performers include the basel sinfonietta conducted by Jonathan Stockhammer; Salzburg’s exceptional percussionist Martin Grubinger; Sylvain Cambreling and the Klangforum Wien; Bertrand de Billy with the Vienna RSO, the Ensemble Modern under François-Xavier Roth, the ensemble recherche and Peter Rundel as well as the Vienna Philharmonic with Riccardo Muti.
The Liszt Scenes present works by one of the most famous Europeans of his time and the musical central figure of the Romantic era, performed by unusual constellations of musicians. The great variety of the concert program is also illustrated by the eight Chamber Music concerts, featuring artists such as Joshua Bell, Steven Isserlis, Dénes Várjon, the Capuçon brothers and the Emerson String Quartet.
Exceptional artist personalities will perform Recitals of Songs and Arias at the Salzburg Festival this year: Magdalena Kožená and Mitsuko Uchida, Anna Netrebko accompanied by Daniel Barenboim, Thomas Quasthoff and Lars Vogt, Juan Diego Flórez as well as Jonas Kaufmann.
The Soloist Recitals present the art of great piano playing: Martha Argerich, Nelson Freire, Evgeny Kissin, Grigory Sokolov, Lang Lang and Maurizio Pollini – in addition, audiences may enjoy a reunion with Salzburg’s own violinist Thomas Zehetmair.
The popular Salzburg tradition of the Mozart Matinees with the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg will be continued at the incomparably beautiful hall of the Mozarteum Foundation.
For years, the Berlin Philharmonic has provided the final highlight of the Festival, led by its chief conductor Sir Simon Rattle – this time, they will interpret Joseph Haydn’s The Seasons together.
As part of the series Guest Orchestras, Markus Hinterhäuser has programmed unforgettable concerts: Rolando Villazón and the Gabrieli Players conducted by Paul McCreesh; Adam Fischer and the Attersee Institute Orchestra with soloists Mischa Maisky and Malin Hartelius; Bertrand the Billy leading the Vienna RSO; Valery Gergiev conducting the London Symphony Orchestra and Mariss Jansons the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra Amsterdam.
The 2009 School of Listening will be led by Alfred Brendel. In three lectures, he will give audiences a glimpse of his incomparable musical horizon.