Strawinski: Feuervogel im Wiener Musikverein

About the Event

Humanity's dream of flying, the limits of technology, youthful overconfidence: The legend of Icarus, who takes to the skies on wings affixed with wax but then crashes because he flies too close to the sun and the wax melts, still moves us today – as it did Lera Auerbach, who admittedly only gave her work “Icarus” this title after composing it. The arc spans from Greek mythology to Russian folk tales, all the way to Igor Stravinsky's suite from The Firebird, whose magical feather plays an important role in the entire ballet. Sergei Prokofiev's First Violin Concerto interjects with a weightless, floating cantilena, only to later sparkle capriciously, worthy of a firebird. Add to this the clever musical argumentation of Samuel Barber's Second Essay, once premiered by Bruno Walter in New York, and the glittering program with which Japanese‐Canadian violinist Karen Gomyo and Russian‐American conductor Lidiya Yankovskaya make their debut with the Tonkünstler Orchestra is complete.

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.