Haydn , who stands at the transition from fading royal-aristocratic to incipient bourgeois musical life , undoubtedly represents an elitist culture. However, the music of the wheelwright’s son in no way has its head in the clouds. Instead, the secret of its success lies in the use of the popular – a feature that can be found in many of the festival’s concerts.

Haydn’s works can be heard on 22 occasions: At the opening with the Vienna Philharmonic under Nikolaus Harnoncourt and at the guest performance of Les Musiciens du Louvre • Grenoble, when Marc Minkowski conducts the complete performance of Jospeh Haydn’s London Symphonies.

Haydn-Kammermusik play the Auryn Quartet and Quatuor Mosaïques, Rudolf Buchbinder plays Haydn piano sonatas. Various Haydn interpretations are offered by the Freiburg Baroque Orchestra, the Vienna Philharmonic , the Vienna Symphonic and the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra. The oratorio “Il ritorno di Tobia” can be heard for the first time in the Konzerthaus with the Austro-Hungarian Haydn Philharmonic conducted by Adam Fischer.

H.K. Gruber conducts an excellently cast “Threepenny Opera”. Rudolf Buchbinder , Mitsuko Uchida, Till Fellner and Maurizio Pollini give piano recitals and Matthias Goerne conducts Schubert’s three major song cycles “Die Schöne Müllerin”, “Winter Journey” and “Swan Song”, while Giora Feidman and Katja Beer combine Schubert with Yiddish songs.

The International Music Festival is not only noted for the very best in classical music: The best international ensembles for New Music are also guests, as are stars of jazz and world music.

34th International Music Festival

9 May to 21 June 2009
Vienna Konzerthaus
3., Lothringerstr. 20
Tel. +43-1-242 002
www.konzerthaus.at

To the full programme