Vienna Symphony Orchestra 125th Anniversary Season with Petr Popelka as Chief Conductor

2024-04-09 10:00:33

Program for the anniversary season and the first season with Petr Popelka as chief conductor of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra presented

Vienna (OTS) – City Councilor for Culture Veronica Kaup-HaslerChairman of the Supervisory Board Alexander Wrabetzchief conductor Petr Cinderella and director Jan Nast today presented the program for the Vienna Symphony Orchestra’s next season, in which the orchestra celebrates its 125th anniversary. It is also Petr Popelka’s first season as chief conductor of the orchestra.

In numerous concerts in the 24-25 season, the orchestra will review its history, which began on October 30, 1900 with a concert under Ferdinand Löwe at the Vienna Musikverein – including the performance of works that the orchestra has written in the course of its 125th anniversary -year history, has premiered: including Schönberg’s Gurre-Lieder and Pelleas und Melisande, Bruckner’s 9th Symphony, Strauss’ Rosenkavalier Suite, Ravel’s Piano Concerto for the Left Hand and Schmidt’s The Book with Seven Seals. In addition, the former chief conductors Philippe Jordan and Fabio Luisi are returning to the podium of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra.

City Councilor Veronica Kaup-Hasler: “I would like to warmly congratulate the Vienna Symphony Orchestra on their 125th anniversary! The program in this special season promises numerous exciting and sonorous highlights with the new chief conductor Petr Popelka. This year, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra is once again following the founding idea – ‘making music accessible to everyone’ – and is continuing the new formats such as the Beisl concerts, the Prater picnic and the Grätzl concerts. I am very happy about it. Because music has a unifying power: it can overcome language barriers and act as a mediator. It creates shared experiences and encounters. I wish this to all the musicians of this wonderful orchestra and its audience.”

Intendant Jan Nast explains that the anniversary season in particular is about renewing the founding idea and the values associated with it in the present: “The Vienna Symphony Orchestra is a modern orchestra for everyone in the city, an orchestra with which every Viennese “Viennese should come into contact at least once a year with an orchestra that is as successful in terms of breadth as in musical quality.”

As the new chief conductor of the Vienna Symphony, Petr Popelka will conduct more than 30 concerts, including Schönberg’s Gurre Lieder, Mahler’s 4th Symphony, the Rosenkavalier Suite by Richard Strauss and his Four Last Songs with Asmik Grigorian. For his inaugural concert in October 2024 in the Vienna Konzerthaus, Petr Popelka has chosen, among others, Béla Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra.

“For me, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra is an orchestra that touches everyone with its passion and quality,” says Petr Popelka. “It is such a great joy that in the anniversary season we can, on the one hand, remember the pioneering spirit of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and, on the other hand, carry on the flame of a cosmopolitan and participatory orchestra whose message appeals to people.”

The orchestra will give more than 180 concerts next season, including 120 in Vienna. In addition to the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Musikverein Wien, the MusikTheater an der Wien and the summer residence at the Bregenz Festival, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra is once again on tour in the city. The chamber music series will take place at the Vienna Museum for the first time.

In addition to large symphony concerts with conductors such as Alain Altinoglu, Vladimir Jurowski, Robin Ticciati, Nathalie Stutzmann and Lahav Shani, virtuos such as Víkingur Ólafsson, María Dueñas, Martha Argerich, Asmik Grigorian and Leonidas Kavakos come to the two main venues, the Vienna Konzerthaus and the Musikverein Wien . The Prater picnic on the Kaiserwiese will continue, as will the Vienna Advent – the Advent concert in St. Stephen’s Cathedral, or the film music concert Cinema:Sound – 2025 with James Newton Howard.

Chairman of the Supervisory Board Alexander Wrabetz: “The close and long-standing partnerships with the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Vienna Music Association, the Bregenz Festival and the MusikTheater an der Wien underline the important role of the orchestra not only for the city, but also beyond. And so it goes without saying that the Vienna Symphony Orchestra will open the Johann Strauss festival year on January 1, 2025 at the stroke of midnight, just as they will play the ceremonial act for the reopening of the Theater an der Wien. I am pleased that the Vienna Symphony Orchestra is the city’s orchestra – and has been for 125 years.”

During its anniversary season, the Vienna Symphony Orchestra is taking international tours through Europe and Asia; more than 30 concerts and 60 workshops are offered for children and young people.

The subscriptions, organized together with the Wiener Konzerthaus, are available now and can be ordered at wienersymphoniker.at.

Press photos and all details about the anniversary program can be found here: