Salzburg

Founded in 1841 with the participation of Constanze Mozart, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg enjoys a worldwide reputation for its lively and stylistically aware interpretations. It combines Viennese classical music with the music of the 19th, 20th and 21st centuries in a variety of ways. The orchestra's constant engagement with its core repertoire also shapes its approach to the music of later eras.

At the tender age of nine, Felix Klieser dreamed of being able to play Mozart's horn concertos. Today, 18 years later, that dream has finally come true and Felix Klieser now performs on the world's foremost concert stages, playing the very works which are part of any horn player's core repertoire. Yet he took his time before recording all four of Mozart's horn concertos: only after releasing three successful albums and winning an ECHO Klassik award and the Leonard Bernstein Award did he go to Salzburg, in September 2018, to record them with the famous Camerata Salzburg ensemble.

Up to and including Mozart, one important task for every composer not employed by the Church was to entertain. Much of Mozart’s best-loved music consists of occasional works intended for receptions and parties, balls and banquets, ceremonies and celebrations. These pieces are known to us under a number of different names: serenades, divertimenti, Nachtmusik and notturni…

Today, the music city of Salzburg basks in the fame of its most famous son, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. He was born into a very music-friendly environment: Archbishop Sigismund III reigned from 1753 to 1771, who particularly promoted music and generously sponsored the travels of the young Mozart with his family - in contrast to his frugal successor Count Colloredo, who eventually abandoned Mozart Salzburg sold. In his childhood, however, his father Leopold and the young Michael Haydn were influential figures in Salzburg's musical life; two men who shared a problem: they were overshadowed by even more prominent relatives. Leopold in that of his son, Michael, who is known as a child prodigy, in that of his world-famous brother Joseph. Works by these two and the very young "Wolferl" show the playful, light elegance that prevailed in Salzburg during this period of early Classicism - especially in works involving the shepherd's horn, a Salzburg specialty that Henning Wiegräbe mastered with virtuosity.