Two major orchestral concerts to mark the 200th anniversary of Bruckner’s birth

Hardcore fans should rest up – the “birthday party” lasts 24 hours, starting at midnight. This day is an expression of the whole year, “which just reaches its peak”, says Norbert Trawöger, head of the Upper Austrian Cultural Fair Anton Bruckner 2024. From midnight to 4 am on September 4, you can watch “Silent Echoes” in Linz Mariandom to listen to the sound artist Bill Fontana, who makes the silent bells of Notre Dame talk to the melting Dachstein Glacier. From 5 am, organists from Austria, Germany and Spain will perform an impromptu performance in the old cathedral under the title “Bruckner’s Awakening”. Those who arrive at the church so early will be rewarded with coffee and croissants. In front of Bruckner’s birthplace in Ansfelden, at the traditional 4.30 am, the brass quintet quinTTonic ensemble, Josef Bayer’s water organ and composer and improvisor Cordula Bösze performed an anniversary serenade.

The festive concert of the Linz Bruckner Orchestra will begin at 11 a.m. in the Abbey of St. Florian, where choreographer and dancer Silke Grabinger and her orchestra will present the dance performance “Compositional Transfer inbodied – I ANTON”. Afterwards, the Linz Bruckner Orchestra will perform Bruckner’s Te Deum and Symphony No. 9 in the Abbey Cathedral. In the evening, a concert conducted by Markus Poschner can also be seen and heard at ORF III.

At 5 p.m., Travog will host an exhibition about the Bruckner Years in the Abbey of St. Florian – “How it all began. Bruckner’s vision”. This will be followed by the main concert in the open air at 7 p.m. by the Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Franz Welser-Möst. Located next to the Parish Church of Ansfelden, the concert entitled “Happy Birthday, Anton!” will feature parts of Richard Wagner’s opera “Tristan und Isolde” and Bruckner’s Symphony No. 4 (“Romantic”) .

The day ends at the Mariendom in Linz. The Ars Electronica Festival will open there. From 8 p.m., the Japanese group Electronicos Fantasticos will welcome guests! As for Ei Wada, the company makes music with recycled electronic instruments on the cathedral square. At 10 p.m., an organ concert or “experiment in quantum physics” awaits, with two organs and entangled photons as conductors of Bruckner’s “Prelude to Peg”, says festival director Veronika Liebl. Then, the NoFive ensemble fuses Bruckner’s “Fifth Symphony” with the White Stripes’ iconic “Seven Nation Army” riff in “Bruckner x Pop x No Wave”, creating “a real explosion”, says Trauger.

So that the little ones can also celebrate, Carlsen Verlag, in close cooperation with the Anton Bruckner 2024 cultural mediation team, has produced a special Pixi book, which will be read in all kindergarten groups in Upper Austria on September 4 and will also be distributed to the public and libraries.

(Serve – https://www.anton-bruckner-2024.at/）