Styriarte
The Styriarte ( proper spelling styriarte or STYRIARTE ) is an annual summer festival for classical and early music in Graz and Styria .
history
The Styrian cultural festival Styriarte took place for the first time in 1985 after a long-standing initiative of the cultural councilor Kurt Jungwirth, who wanted to use the festival to bind the Austrian conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt closer to his hometown. The focus of the first Styriarte was on the composer Johann Sebastian Bach , with the Concentus Musicus Wien under Harnoncourt playing a major role. Andrea Herberstein as general secretary and the member of the Vienna Philharmonic Wolfgang Schuster as artistic director, who left the Styriarte the following year due to a budgetary hole, take over the management.
In 1987 Harnoncourt led a second ensemble for the first time with the Styriarte, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe . With the event Ein Fest für Haydn in Schloss Eggenberg , the Styriarte achieved a resounding success with the public for the first time, and ticket revenues reached the 1 million schilling mark.
In 1988, the then director Andrea Herberstein left the festival, followed by Christopher Widauer as program director. In 1989, with the baroque parish church of Stainz , in which Harnoncourt gave concerts with the Concentus Musicus and the Arnold Schoenberg Choir , an event location outside of Graz was added for the first time, which has established itself as a venue for the Styrian festival to this day.
After the previous director Christopher Widauer was replaced by the current artistic director Mathis Huber in 1991, another innovation at Styriarte followed in 1992: instead of dedicating the festival to a famous composer every year, a motto has been at the center of the festival since this year. With Jordi Savall , the festival management succeeded in hiring another international artist for the Styriarte.
The success of the Styriarte continued in the years that followed, with an occupancy rate of around 90% being almost always achieved to this day. In addition, the Styriarte z. B. with the Roman quarry in Wagna, the Benedictine monastery St. Lambrecht and the monastery Rein gradually other places in Styria. In 2003 the newly built Helmut List Hall was also used for the first time as a venue for the Styriarte. The Styrian festival also established itself beyond the borders of Styria: In 2005, the staged opera production of Bizet's Carmen with Nikolaus Harnoncourt caused an international sensation, and in 2007 it was possible to include listeners outside the concert halls through broadcasts by ORF. In keeping with the 2007 motto Wanted: Europe , the Styriarte was advertised internationally through a documentary by ORF and 3sat. In addition, the Stübing open-air museum was won as another performance venue. In 2008, following the example of the Bayreuth Festival and the Metropolitan Opera in New York, a public viewing was used for the first time at the Styriarte, through which Mozart's coronation mass under Nikolaus Harnoncourt from the Stainz parish church could be seen throughout the country. In addition, the opening concert with Recreation - Large Orchestra Graz took place on the main square in Graz, which made the Styriarte accessible to a particularly wide audience.
The musicians
In addition to the Concentus Musicus Wien, an ensemble for early music led by Nikolaus Harnoncourt until 2015, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe is a preferred orchestra of the Styriarte. Leading interpreters of the early music scene such as Jordi Savall, Quatuor Mosaiques, Armonico Tributo Austria, Il Giardino Armonico are among the regular guests of the Styrian Festival today.
The old town of the Styrian capital Graz with its famous historical squares and halls forms the framework for the festival. The most important performance venues in Graz are the Stefaniensaal, the Helmut List Hall, completed in 2003, and Eggenberg Palace and the Stainzer parish church.