PORTRAIT

Grafenegg is one of the three residencies of the Tonkunstler Orchestra, one of the biggest and most important institutions of Austrian music culture. Each year the traditional Grafenegg Midsummer Night’s Gala, featuring the orchestra, is broadcast on TV and radio in Austria as well as in several other European countries. In the concerts at the Wolkenturm, the musicians demonstrate their stylistic versatility; they tackle contemporary musical culture with performances and premieres of contemporary works. At the Grafenegg Festival, the Tonkunstler Orchestra works in close partnership with the Composers in Residence, whose numbers have so far included HK Gruber, Krzysztof Penderecki, Jörg Widmann, and Ryan Wigglesworth. Composers such as Arvo Pärt, Kurt Schwertsik, Friedrich Cerha, and Bernd Richard Deutsch have written commissioned works for the Orchestra. At Campus Grafenegg, the musicians pass on their knowledge and experience to the next musical generation; at the annual composer conductor-workshop INK STILL WET, the Tonkunstler offer their services as in-house orchestra and are conducted by the participating emerging composers at the concluding concert. During the Grafenegg Festival the Tonkunstler Orchestra, as orchestra in residence, creates ambitious concert programmes, including the festival opening. Its musicians can be heard in various chambermusic ensembles over the summer in numerous Preludes.

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