On the first day of the year, our major expedition, the first Upper Austrian KulturEXPO to mark the 200th anniversary of Anton Bruckner's birth, really took off. With an orchestrally adapted "Quadrille", the Vienna New Year's Concert opened up another side of the world symphonist's sound to a global audience, while the intermission film was an enchanting journey of discovery into Bruckner's world of sound and, above all, into our beautiful federal state, with the help of two Florian choirboys. In the late afternoon of New Year's Day, the Bruckner Orchestra Linz and Markus Poschner officially opened the Bruckner Year in the Brucknerhaus. The program included not only music by the Ansfeld master, but also dances by other composers celebrating milestone anniversaries such as Smetana, Schönberg and Ives.
In mid-January, the Bruckner Orchestra Linz and its chief conductor embarked on the "Romantic" at the Musiktheater and the Vienna Musikverein. In the first part of the concert, the Viennese and Linz audiences experienced a "Bruckner moment" with the Linz ZIB anchorman and Bruckner aficionado Tarek Leitner, who, together with Markus Poschner and the BOL, opened up new perspectives on the music. Both concerts were as good as sold out and received a great response from the audience. The ballroom at the Ritzlhof Horticultural School was also filled to capacity for the birthday concert on January 6. A birthday orchestra of young musicians from the Ansfelden, Enns, Leonding, Neuhofen an der Krems and Traun regional music schools was put together for the occasion, conducted by Peter Aigner. This included an engaging world premiere of the orchestral piece "Expedition Nordpol" by the young composer Tina Geroldinger, which refers to Bruckner's burning interest in the North Pole expedition of his time.
The Austro-Hungarian North Pole Expedition explored the Arctic Ocean in 1872-1874 and discovered a group of islands that was named "Franz-Josefs-Land". The magazine "Die Nordpolfahrer" was Bruckner's only subscription, which only underlines his curiosity for everything beyond the usual boundaries. An intensive teachers' concert by the Kirchdorf an der Krems music school, which ranged from folk music to improvisation, opened the dense program in the upper Selzthal.
Once again, the hall was filled to capacity and the atmosphere was inspiring. The "Bruckner Inclusive" exhibition was opened beforehand. It shows fascinating Bruckner paintings by the "Sound and Color" class of the LMS Kirchdorf and the residents of the "Schön für besondere Menschen" institute, who were accompanied by the artist Manfred Schöller. Last but not least, the complete recording of all of Anton Bruckner's symphonies with the BOL and the Vienna RSO under the direction of Markus Poschner was awarded the prestigious "International Music Award 2024". And "Being & Playing Anton" can be experienced all year round at the Ars Electronica Center. But that's for another time!
