A European Capital of Culture traditionally focuses more on long-term projects with a perspective on sustainability, as is the case with Bad Ischl – Salzkammergut 2024. However, there are some concert events and premieres on the calendar over the course of the year, the most important ones at a glance:
Saltice
The children’s music theater “Saltice” can be seen in the papermaking museum and event center ALFA in Laakirchen using equipment made of recycled paper using the origami technique. The story, in which the main characters Martin and Katharina encounter the ghost of the ice cave in the desperate search to rescue their father, who had an accident in the mine, aims to combine poetry and eco-themes. Ruben Zahra wrote and directed the music for the text by Susanne F. Wolf. The premiere is on February 17th, following which further performances are scheduled until February 25th.
Dear Evan Hansen
Image: (Volker Weihbold)
After its success with the premiere of “Letters from Ruth” last year, the Musical Spring Gmunden is following up with a premiere in 2024: “Dear Evan Hansen” by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, which has already run on Broadway and won six Tony Awards , will come to the stage in German for the first time on March 22nd at the Gmunden City Theater. As always, the new production is in the hands of artistic director Markus Olzinger; the musical is an associated project with the Capital of Culture.
Primordial light
The East Tyrolean Musicbanda FRANUI, which reinterprets songs by Gustav Mahler, and the acrobats of the Circa Contemporary Circus from Brisbane/Australia, who stage the music with body sculptures – these are the ingredients for “Urlicht – Primal Light”. The show celebrates its world premiere on April 6th at the Bad Ischl Theater and Congress Center, and there will be Circa workshops for children and young people at the NMS Bad Goisern in March.
Acoustic attacks by Hubert von Goisern
Between May and September, Hubert von Goisern will travel the country as a street musician and spontaneously play in reasonably busy places in the Salzkammergut on eight to twelve days – where you can hear and see him during the day remains a surprise, and in the evenings there are final concerts following the tours Bad Ischl or Bad Goisern planned.
Bruckner’s salt
On June 15th, the Bruckner Orchestra Linz under its chief conductor Markus Poschner will perform with numerous choirs from Upper Austria in the production hall of the Ebensee Saline, the title of the concert: “Bruckner’s Salt”. Here the cultural capital combines with the Bruckner Year 2024, on the occasion of the composer’s 200th birthday. The program includes motets, symphony sections, improvisations, and the unexpected is also promised.
Ms. Thomas and Mr. Martin
Image: (Volker Weihbold)
Tom Neuwirth grew up in Bad Mitterndorf as the son of a couple of innkeepers before he became a successful singer as Conchita (Wurst), won the song contest and became a queer icon. Together with his best friend, the Carinthian Martin Zerza, he creates a variety evening that is all regarding growing up in a small village, rural confinement, brass music and the perception of one’s own difference. Can be seen on July 19th in Bad Mitterndorf as an open air event on the village square, and the following day in the Pension Hanslmann in Steinbach am Attersee.
Aquarius from Grundlsee
The legend of the waterman, who told the Ausseers where salt was stored and thus founded their prosperity, comes to the stage as a contemporary opera. The music for the work, commissioned by Verena Frey and the Ausseer Barocktage association, in which the Capital of Culture is involved, was written by Vanni Moretto, and the libretto by Stefano Pintor. The premiere can be experienced on August 11th as an open-air event on the banks of Lake Grundlsee.
Attwenger goes Dachstein
Image: (Volker Weihbold)
Drums, button harmonica and a good portion of anarchism – on the followingnoon of August 31st, Markus Binder and Hans-Peter Falkner alias Attwenger will be playing at the Dachstein. The Upper Austrian avant-garde dialect duo dares to go high and perform their dances on the Schönbergalm, the middle station of the Krippenstein cable car.
Ice sound
As a supplement to the concerts that have been taking place in the Parzival Cathedral in the Dachstein Giant Ice Cave for several years, composition commissions were awarded to lecturers from the International Master Classes and the Bad Goisern Wind Instrument Holiday for the Capital of Culture year together with the OÖ KulturEXPO Anton Bruckner 2024. The selected young composers will play their works on a glass grand piano in the middle of the ice world in several concerts from August 16th to September 9th.
