The widest temptation since monastery concerts have existed

St. Florian, Kremsmünster, Lambach and Wilhering – in these four monasteries, the Upper Austrian monastery concerts will celebrate their 50th anniversary from June 3rd to July 30th, and that in rare musical diversity: by the South Korean violinist Kim Bomsori, whose dynamics have been criticized and Audiences all over the world equally enthusiastic, to the text-music collage around HC Artmann with Erwin Steinhauer and friends, from the commissioned work “Epitaph” by the Estonian composer Erkki-Sven Tüür with the Bruckner Orchestra under Markus Poschner to the jazzy cello by Raphaela Gromes ( current album: “Femmes”).

It is a jubilee dance that Rico Gulda conceived. He is also celebrating an anniversary himself: for ten years he has been in charge of the festival, which balances the dignity and acoustics of sacred spaces with musical relevance. The Linzer Jeunesse Choir also celebrates its 40s here with the Concentus Musicus, and Mnozil Brass around Thomas Gansch celebrates their 30s at the Open Air in St. Florian outdoors. According to Gulda, with Quatuor Ébène the world’s best string quartet is coming to Kremsmünster. For the first time, the Tillysburg Castle Festival is a partner of the Stiftskonzerte, and the dialect poppers of the Hermann singing band can be heard in the castle courtyard.

There are 17 concerts that Gulda has conceived with the new managing director Daniel Hochreiter. 400,000 euros are estimated as a budget, Hochreiter calculates with a capacity utilization of 90 percent, 60 percent of the budget is generated from tickets. And because the monastery concerts are aware of their musical educational mission, they offer all 17 concerts to people under the age of 20 for a total of 20 euros.

The series will be opened with the speech “Music belongs to whom” by the historian and philosopher Philipp Blom. Gulda: “The success factor of the monastery concerts is the proximity to the audience, which we want to continue to cultivate.” In this respect, the musical tour in Lambach Abbey, which was in great demand, will be continued: among others with percussionist Vivi Vassileva, Martin Grubinger’s successor as designer of the Percussive Planet cycle in the Vienna Konzerthaus.