Bruch & Elgar im Wiener Musikverein

About the Event

After his adventures, “Lightfoot Lemminkäinen, the dashing Fernmut, created horses from his grief, black steeds from his worries, bridles from bad days, saddles from secret poison” and “rumbled his way home”: This is the content of the fourth and last of the “Lemminkäinen Legends,” in which the nearly 30‐year‐old Jean Sibelius depicts the Finnish legendary hero from the Kalevala epic—in the style of a symphony in the manner of Franz Liszt and Richard Strauss. A gripping early work and one that is rarely heard in our country: Reason enough for Oxford‐trained conductor Matthew Halls to bring it to the Tonkünstler. Another epic in its own right is the magnificent First Symphony by Halls' compatriot Edward Elgar, the typically atypical British composer and symbol of the Edwardian era. There Finland, here the United Kingdom – and in between Sweden: the young violinist Daniel Lozakovich was born in Stockholm and will make his Tonkünstler debut with a melodious virtuoso piece: Max Bruch's popular Violin Concerto in G minor.

Wiener Musikverein

The Wiener Musikverein is one of the world's great concert halls. The home of the Vienna Philarmonic Orchestra and the centre of Viennese musical life, the building was opened in 1870 as a part of an ambitious plan to create an elegant cultural boulevard along the Ringstrasse. Designed in the Neo‐Classical style to resemble an Ancient Greek temple, the Great Hall of the Musikverein is deemed to be one of the best music halls in the world thanks to its impeccable acoustics.
In 2004 four new halls were added to the building. The Austrian architect Wilhelm Holzbauer recognised the aesthetic importance of the existing building and sought out ways to echo the style in a modern language of form. Each of the four New Halls focuses on a different material — glass, metal, stone, and wood.