Overture spiritual

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Salzburg Cathedral

The overture spirituelle is the opening week of the Salzburg Festival , which is dedicated to sacred music and the dialogue between religions . The festival within the festival was conceived by Alexander Pereira and institutionalized in 2012.

The Ouverture spirituelle has been programmed by Florian Wiegand , the festival's concert director , since 2015 .

The concept

In the Ouverture spirituelle , "sacred works by Catholic and Protestant composers meet those of a different world religion every year". The 2012 program was dedicated to the dialogue with the Jewish faith , that of 2013 to the confrontation with Buddhism . The encounter with Islam follows in 2014 . "I thought that this city, with its tradition, its churches and the idea of ​​the festival, could do with a more contemplative beginning," said Artistic Director Pereira during the presentation of the project. The series begins every year between July 18 and 20 with Haydn's Creation - 2012 with the English Baroque Soloists and the Monteverdi Choir , conducted by Sir John Eliot Gardiner , and in 2013 with the Concentus Musicus Vienna and the Arnold Schoenberg Choir , conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt , 2014 with the Bavarian Radio Choir and Symphony Orchestra , conducted by Bernard Haitink .

The concept is based on two pillars: On the one hand, the centuries-old tradition of sacred music in the Prince-Archbishop's residence city of Salzburg , which the Salzburg Festival has continued since 1927 - with the first performance of Mozart's Great Mass in C minor KV 417a. Since then, all major masses and oratorios - by Bach , Beethoven , Berlioz , Brahms , Britten , Bruckner , Handel , Haydn , Ligeti , Mozart , Palestrina , Pergolesi , Rossini , Schubert , Stravinsky and Verdi - have been given regularly in Salzburg . The c-minor Mass by Mozart is presented annually in since 1950 Collegiate Church of St. Peter played.

The second pillar is the dialogue of religions , Salzburg's contribution to international understanding , which takes place not only musically, but also in disputations - for example between Cardinal Christoph Schönborn and Rabbi Arthur Schneier . This approach is underlined by commissioned works: In 2012 a work by Johannes Maria Staud was premiered, Infin che'l mar fu sovra noi richiuso , which dealt with Christian-Jewish ideas on the basis of a Dante text. In 2014 the festival will present two world premieres, one each by Hossam Mahmoud and Samir Odeh-Tamimi . Both choral works are dedicated to the life, work and death of the Persian martyr Abū l-Mughīth al-Husain ibn Mansūr al-Hallādsch (857–922) and are accompanied by Western instruments.

The Ouverture spiritual is supported by the Herbert Batliner European Institute .

The program

year Salzburg baroque churches Festival halls Mozarteum
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
  • Sacred choral music from Russia
  • Marian hymns from the Orient

The performers

The Salzburg Festival Standard calls for the world's best interpreters of the respective genre. The selection of conductors for the first season alone - Claudio Abbado , Ivor Bolton , Laurence Equilbey , John Eliot Gardiner , Valery Gergiev , Christopher Hogwood , Zubin Mehta and Nikolaus Harnoncourt - proves the company's ambition. In addition to the Vienna Philharmonic and the Mozarteum Orchestra , the Concentus Musicus Vienna , the Orchestra Mozart Bologna , the English Baroque Soloists , the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and the Camerata Salzburg played . The Vienna State Opera Choir , the Arnold Schoenberg Choir , the Dresden Chamber Choir , the Collegiate Chorale , the Monteverdi Choir , the Accentus Choir and the Salzburg Festival and Theater Children's Choir sang .

As a vocal soloist in 2012 occurred among other sopranos Lucy Crowe , Rachel Harnisch , Malin Hartelius , Roberta Invernizzi , Martina Janková , Christiane Karg , Anna Prohaska and Krasimira Stoyanova , the mezzo-soprano Vesselina Kasarova , the tenors Javier Camarena , Norbert Ernst , Carl Hieger , Roberto Saccà and Michael Schade , as well as the baritones and basses Florian Boesch , Thomas Hampson , Andreas Hörl , Yuyani Mlinde and Michael Volle in the context of the overture spiritual .

The high quality standards were seamlessly continued in the programs in the following years.

Kollegienkirche

The venues

The Ouverture spirituelle makes optimal use of the wide spectrum of Salzburg's stages, concert halls and baroque churches. Mozart's C minor Mass has been performed every year since 1950 in the collegiate church of St. Peter . The Salzburg Cathedral rarely is - for example, Monteverdi's Vespers , Mozart's Missa longa in C KV 262 and its Litaniae de venerabili altaris sacramento KV 243 - are available. In contrast, the collegiate or university church can be used for a wide range of sacred music from other religions.

The Haus für Mozart and the Great Festival Hall are ideal for concerts of sacred music due to their excellent acoustics, and the Felsenreitschule due to the picturesque setting. In the large house , impressive choir / orchestral works - such as Bruckner's Te Deum , Mahler's Eighth or Stravinski's Psalm Symphony - are performed.

The great room of the Mozarteum offers the perfect setting for smaller sacred works , piano recitals , song recitals and a cappella concerts .

Individual evidence

  1. Salzburg Festival, Editorial: The Concert 2012 (PDF; 149 kB), accessed on June 18, 2013
  2. oe24.at: Salzburg Festival starts "spiritually" , accessed on June 18, 2013