Our festival summer 2022

With an average capacity utilization of 80 percent and a total number of around 7.000 visitors, the Carinthian Summer Music Festival 2022 can look back to a successful season. New concepts and contemporary experiments are particularly well received. “I am pleased that the Carinthian audience is curious about new and unusual happenings and that we can offer them concert experiences away from the mainstream,” says artistic director Holger Bleck.

“The concert landscape is obviously changing, the audience in both Austria and Germany is rather reluctant when it comes to classical concerts and theater visits, as reports in the media show,” says Bleck. This development can also be observed in the Carinthian Summer Music Festival. Therefore, the recipe of offering variety at the highest level and innovative concert formats in exciting venues is proving to be forward-looking and increasingly successful, says Bleck.

For example, the concert series „Lebenszeichen – alte und neue Lieder aus dem Alpen-Adria-Raum“ taking place at the Domenig Steinhaus was promptly sold out, as was Lukas Kranzelbinder & Shake Stew and the concert with the world-class clarinetist Anat Cohen and the Brazilian guitarist Marcello Gonçalves in the Bergkirche (mountain church) in Tiffen. Roméo Monteiro and Spat’Sonore, one of the most original European sound formations, performed at the Carinthian Summer Music Festival for the second time after 2017 – the concert was hosting visitors with an occupancy rate of 90 percent.

Dornenreich, a black metal acoustic duo, performed for the first time at the Carinthian Summer Music Festival. The concert took place in a fully occupied Johanneskirche in Klagenfurt. The concert of the Wiener Jeunesse Orchester (WJO) and the young percussionist Vivi Vassileva, who stepped in for Martin Grubinger at short notice, celebrated a sensational success and enjoyed a very good attendance with over 650 visitors.

A new concert format was introduced this season: CS under 30, a cooperation with the Friulian festival Mittelfest with the goal to promote young artists. Two young ensembles performed in the Congress Center Villach and received a magnificent reception of the audience. The cooperation will continue next year.

The Carinthian music salons (Carinthische Musiksalons) were popular right from the start of the festival and just like in the previous years, promptly sold out: Cinquecento – Renaissance Vokal at the Kloster Wernberg, Anika Vavić in the Schloss Ferlach, CrossNova at the former ironwork plant Heft as well as the Simply Quartet in the Schloss Rosegg.

Another highlight of this season was without a doubt the performance by the pianist Rudolf Buchbinder followed by a celebration and reception. The honorary member of the Carinthian Summer Music Festival celebrated his 50th stage anniversary at the festival.

The Carinthian Dialogues (Carinthische Dialoge), which took place in cooperation with the Carinthian Summer Music Festival under this year’s festival motto “The Fragility of Geometry”, were also well attended. The opening concert addressed the motto right at the beginning of the festival with the Austrian premiere of Beethoven’s 10th symphony, which was composed with the help of artificial intelligence based on Beethoven’s work studies.

In addition, those interested were invited to events with free admission, including the opening of the festival, the Sonntagsmessen (Sunday masses) in the Stiftskirche Ossiach and the opening talks (Auftakt!) taking place prior to a few selected concerts.

The Carinthian Summer Music Festival 2022 was coming to an end on August 30th with the performance of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra (MCO) and the world-class soloists Isabelle Faust (violin) and Antoine Tamestit (viola).

Monika Unegg