Stage orchestra of the Vienna State Opera

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The stage orchestra of the Vienna State Opera is a unique, cultural specialty with over 150 years of history.

history

The stage orchestra of the Vienna State Opera was founded in 1854 as stage music for the Kärntnertor Theater with its own stage conductor. Since then, as a result of the institution's relocation due to the war (" State Opera in the Volksoper ", " State Opera in the Theater an der Wien " etc.), it has undergone several restructuring. Before the stage orchestra was subordinated to the Vienna State Opera as part of the spin-off of the federal theaters in 1999, from 1972 to 1999 it was the “stage orchestra of the Austrian federal theaters”.

From autumn 2014 to autumn 2019 Witolf Werner was the director of the stage orchestra.

Markus Henn will hold this position at the start of the 2019/2020 season.

tasks and activities

The main task of the orchestra is to play the stage music on and behind the scene in the repertoire of the Vienna State Opera and the Vienna Volksoper . Since 1999 the stage orchestra of the Vienna State Opera has also acted as the “main orchestra” of the children's opera, which was founded by the then director Ioan Holender . The venue at that time was the A1 children's opera tent on the roof of the Vienna State Opera. Since the 2015/2016 season, the children's operas have been taking place on the Agrana studio stage in Walfischgasse in the immediate vicinity of the opera.

Another important and essential task of the stage orchestra is to participate in performances in the orchestra of the Vienna State Opera.

For this reason, since 2001, the jury for auditions for the stage orchestra has consisted of 51% members of the Vienna State Opera Orchestra (to a large extent, the Vienna Philharmonic ) and 49% members of the stage orchestra.

This close connection is also documented by the fact that to this day more than 25 musicians of the stage orchestra (after a new audition) have been engaged in the orchestra of the Vienna State Opera (Vienna Philharmonic). Partly in the most important positions such as solo oboe (Martin Gabriel), solo clarinet (Gregor Hinterreiter), solo timpani (Anton Mittermayr), solo trumpet (Martin Mühlfellner) and many more.

In the 1980s, the stage orchestra of the Vienna State Opera represented the State Opera at the Wien Modern Festival with contemporary opera productions such as White Rose by Udo Zimmermann and Jakob Lenz by Wolfgang Rihm . At the request of Herbert von Karajan , who died a little later , the stage orchestra also played the stage music for the opera productions of the Salzburg Festival from 1988 to 1998 . In the recent past, the stage orchestra was also involved in the opera productions Lulu and Wozzeck in the Theater an der Wien as part of the Wiener Festwochen .

occupation

1 harp, 3 flutes, 2 oboes, 3 clarinets, 2 bassoons, 4 horns, 5 trumpets, 3 trombones, 1 tuba, 4 percussionists, 6 violins, 2 violas, 2 cellos and 2 basses.

Awards

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Vita on Witolf Werner's website, accessed on January 26, 2016.
  2. ^ Wiener Zeitung: Music Theater Prize: Awarded Vienna State Opera . Article dated May 29, 2019, accessed May 29, 2019.