Bad Ischl

In the historic setting of Bad Ischl's parish church, the Gustav Mahler Festival of Steinbach, in collaboration with the Kirchklang Festival, presents works for choir and organ by Anton Bruckner, Gustav Mahler and Arnold Schönberg. This is where  Anton Bruckner frequently played mass for the Emperor, Franz Josef.

Gustav Mahler Festival Steinbach am Attersee

Chorus sine nomine | Johannes Hiemetsberger

Three finalists were selected from the participants in the international organ improvisation competition "Anton Bruckner" at the end of January in the Brucknerhaus Linz, who will now compete for the prize of the Capital of Culture Bad Ischl. The aim of this competition is the high art of accompanying classical silent films on the organ, improvised on the newly restored instrument of Bad Ischl's parish church. Anton Bruckner himself frequently played this organ.

The following organists qualified on 31 Jan 2024:

Hendrik Burkard
David Kiefer
Bernhard Hauk

Preliminary programme:
20:00, Lehár Theatre

KIRCH'KLANG Festival Salzkammergut in cooperation with the Capital of Culture Bad Ischl - Salzkammergut 2024 and Brucknerhaus Linz

Martin Haselböck | Speaker, Moderation

Thierry Escaich | Jury member

Jeremy Joseph | Jury member

Eva Sangiorgi | Jury member

Organ improvisation and the art of accompanying silent films are experiencing an incredible renaissance. Numerous young musicians are exploring this art form and have taken it to an unprecedented level. Experience the dazzling, virtuoso and exciting further development of Anton Bruckner's art of improvisation - with the French master organist Thierry Escaich at the console of the newly renovated instrument.
Preliminary program: 20:00, Lehár Theater

KIRCH'KLANG Festival Salzkammergut in cooperation with the Capital of Culture Bad Ischl - Salzkammergut 2024 and Brucknerhaus Linz

Thierry Escaich | Organist

Martin Haselböck | Lecturer

Thierry Escaich | Lecturer

Organ improvisation and the art of accompanying silent films are experiencing an incredible renaissance. Numerous young musicians are exploring this art form and have taken it to an unprecedented level. Experience the virtuoso and exciting further development of Anton Bruckner's art of improvisation - with the internationally active concert organist Jeremy Joseph and a virtuoso organ accompaniment to the silent film classic. Preliminary program: 20:00, Lehár Theater

KIRCH'KLANG Festival Salzkammergut in cooperation with the Capital of Culture Bad Ischl - Salzkammergut 2024 and Brucknerhaus Linz

Jeremy Joseph | Organist

Martin Haselböck | Lecturer

Wolfgang Schlag | Lecturer

A saltworks is where salt is extracted. And, there is no better place to get a taste of the basic crystalline structure of Bruckner's music. Numerous choirs from Upper Austria, the Bruckner Orchestra Linz and Markus Poschner convene in the vast production hall of the saltworks of Ebensee for a first-class and unique Bruckner event. Motets, symphonic parts, improvised and unexpected, will be presented in a very distinctive environment.

Take a look at the programme of the Capital of Culture Bad Ischl - Salzkammergut 2024 under 'Details & Tickets'!

A project of the European Capital of Culture Bad Ischl-Salzkammergut 2024 in co-operation with the Upper Austrian KulturEXPO Anton Bruckner 2024, the Bruckner Orchestra Linz and the Upper Austrian Choir Association. Our thanks goes to Salinen Austria AG.

Choirs of the Upper Austrian Choir Association

Alexander Koller | Management

Bruckner Orchestra Linz

Markus Poschner | Conductor

On 21 June every year, the "Fête de la Musique" fills public spaces in more than 540 cities around the world with music - including over 300 cities in Europe. In 2024, the "Fête de la Musique" will make its way to the Salzkammergut.

In addition to eclectic musical performances by amateur and professional musicians, live rhythms and beats by DJs, this festival also highlights the recapturing of street space in all of the 23 village and town centres, albeit temporarily. It gives a wide audience access to music of different kinds and origins. Pubs and cafés get in on the act and offer refreshments in the alleyways and streets that are usually the monopoly of motorised traffic. The communities of the Capital of Culture get together on foot or by bike and turn the "Fête de la Musique" into a regional festival.

Admission free

Capital of Culture Bad Ischl - Salzkammergut 2024

Jakob Rodlauer | Project management

Christian Haselmayr | Program Director Music, Youth, Community Building

The German master organist Hansjörg Albrecht has just recorded all of Anton Bruckner's symphonies on major organs in Austria and Germany. The interpretation of the Romantic Symphonies on an organ played by Bruckner himself puts the composer in direct contact with the organist. The premiere of a new Bruckner-related organ work by Thomas Daniel Schlee introduces the program.
Preliminary program (film documentary): 18:00, Lehár Theater

KIRCH'KLANG Festival Salzkammergut

Hansjörg Albrecht | Organist

Martin Haselböck | Lecturer

The concert promises great Romanticism with music for organ and brass: among other things, organist Eivind Berg improvises on the themes that Bruckner played at the wedding of Archduchess Valerie. Louis Vierne's impressive Triumphal March was composed for Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, while the wind version of the Adagio from the Seventh Symphony was played at Bruckner's funeral in Vienna's Karlskirche.

KIRCH'KLANG Festival Salzkammergut

Eivind Berg | Organist

Vienna Academy Brass | Brass Ensemble

Notre Dame is called the soul of Paris. For a whole country this church is a place of identification. As a result of the tragic fire in 2019, its bells have fallen silent.However, these bells were not damaged by the fire and silently and secretly "listen" to the sounds of the city around Notre Dame. Silent Echoes: Notre Dame is a continuously live-streamed sound sculpture that makes audible the simple physical fact that these bells are constantly ringing in secret. U.S. sound artist Bill
Fontana is expanding his artistic project for the 2024 Capital of Culture in a collaboration with the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the IRCAM Research Institute for Acoustics based there, the Upper Austrian KulturEXPO Anton Bruckner 2024, the Ars Electronica Festival and the Goiserer Musiktage to create a "dialogue" between the ice caves on the Dachstein and Paris. The sound of the melting glacier and the resonance of the bells of Notre Dame become a duet that tells of a European cultural monument that has almost disappeared and a natural world that is equally threatened by disappearance. Bill Fontana describes this extended version, in which the sounds of the glacier are "played back" live to Paris, as an artistic statement on the consequences of climate change.

The Parzival Dome in the ice caves of the Dachstein is a place that carries an "inestimable secret", as it is called in the sense of Anton Bruckner's composition Locus iste: a secret that asks us humans the question of how we want to live with nature in the future. In addition, OÖ KulturEXPO Anton Bruckner 2024, in cooperation with the Goiserer Musiktage, will award a composition commission to young composers on this theme. The work will be premiered as part of the European Capital of Culture 2024 at the Goiserer Musiktage on the glass fountain in the ice cave.

Date details:
- from September 2024 until the end of the season: Sound installation and live concerts
- September 4: Special performance with live broadcast for Bruckner's birthday
- until the end of the season: Guided tours of the sound installation in the ice cave

A project of the European Capital of Culture Bad Ischl-Salzkammergut 2024 in cooperation with IRCAM, Centre Pompidou, OÖ KulturEXPO Anton Bruckner 2024, Ars Electronica Festival, Goiserer Musiktage, Kunstradio Ö1. thanks to: OÖ Seilbahnholding GmbH, Planai-Hochwurzen Bahnen GmbH

Admission free!

Accessibility:
Tourism Association Dachstein Inneres Salzkammergut

A project of the European Capital of Culture Bad Ischl-Salzkammergut 2024 in cooperation with IRCAM, Centre Pompidou, OÖ KulturEXPO Anton Bruckner 2024, Ars Electronica Festival, Goiserer Musiktage, Kunstradio Ö1. thanks to: OÖ Seilbahnholding GmbH, Planai-Hochwurzen Bahnen GmbH

International Master Classes Bad Goisern

Bill Fontana | Artist

Wolfgang Schlag | Curator

Peter Brugger | Co-Curator, Project Manager Goiserer Musiktage

Christian Haselmayr | Program Director Music, Youth, Community Building