Sommer 2025
Wo sich Natur und Töne treffenPublished: 08 September 2025
Where nature and sound meet
Horns blaring across lush meadows? Rustling leaves accompanied by drum rolls? Violins singing in the evening glow? This is something you will only find in Grafenegg, where for two decades the rich sound of symphony orchestras has harmonised uniquely with the vibrations of nature.
Music is in every fibre, the sounds covering the area like a fine patina. Above it all, the most beautiful starry sky stretches out over the natural concert hall, which always comes to life between June and September.
Summer Season
19 June – 07 September 2025The summer season in Grafenegg will run from 19 June to 7 September 2025. The Grafenegg Festival, under the artistic direction of Rudolf Buchbinder, will be the highlight of the summer from 14 August onwards, with a wealth of concerts already on offer from 19 June to 9 August 2025 as part of the Summer Sounds programme.
«The Grafenegg Festival, with its impressive natural scenery and its outstanding artists, offers a fulminant musical expe rience. From the young talents at the European Union Youth Orchestra to the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra under Franz WelserMöst, from Jazz to Bruckner it is hard to surpass in its variety and excellence. Additionally, it’s delightful to see the Grafenegg Festival move with the times when it comes to sustainability: It has been certified by the Austrian Ecolabel for over a year and operates ecologically, economically and with social responsibility as a Green Location – bravo!»
Midsummer Night's Gala
19 June + 20 June 2025The Midsummer Night’s Gala 2025 promises to be especially magnificent, with Rudolf Buchbinder, head of the Festival and a pianist for the ages, playing an active role. For Michael Spyres, celebrated star tenor in all categories and an old Bayreuth hand, combining flawless tones with sensitive, clever phrasing is all in a day’s work. And the fact that he’s not just garnered enthusiastic reviews but also conquered audiences’ hearts is also a matter of course. Grafenegg debutante Siphokazi Molteno is well on the way to the same status: The mezzo-soprano from South Africa was already developing into a real audience darling in the early years of her career at New York’s Metropolitan Opera, and is sure to also enchant our guests at the Wolkenturm. At his first Midsummer Night’s Gala, Fabien Gabel is also giving his first concert as Music Director on the podium of the Tonkunstler Orchestra. He and his orchestra will together shape the coming years in Grafenegg in many ways.
Summer Sounds
28 June – 09 August 2025The Summer Sounds began with a tribute to one of the greatest film music composers: Ennio Morricone. Frank Strobel, one of the most important film music experts of our time, conducted the Tonkunstler Orchestra.
A concert celebrating the 200th birthday of the Waltz King Johann Strauss took place on 5 July 2025. For decades, the Tonkunstler have been cultivating the music of Johann Strauss year after year in extensive concert tours around the turn of the year. Together with Sascha Goetzel at the podium and exquisite soloists, these ‘Sounds of Home,’ including a ‘Fledermaus’ special in the second part of the concert, were a real home game.
On 19 July 2025, the Jazzrausch Bigband presented their most successful ‘hits’ in full sound in their new programme ‘Bangers Only!’: jazz, classical and electronic dance music paired with the best entertainment and rousing rhythms.
The next chapter of the Summer Sounds journey took us back to the 1930s, in every sense of the word: the musicians of the Swing Dance Orchestra, who are returning to Grafenegg once again due to their continued success, also presented themselves in authentic clothing and styling in their programme ‘Swing is on Parade’.
The following week, on 2 August 2025, the European Union Youth Orchestra performed at the Wolkenturm with cellist Pablo Ferrández. Grafenegg's youngest resident orchestra played under the baton of Vasily Petrenko. The programme included Shostakovich's Cello Concerto No. 1 and Dvorák's Symphony No. 8.
The Tonkunstler Orchestra, Xavier de Maistre on the harp and Fabien Gabel looked to south-western Europe in the final concert of the Summer Sounds concert series.
Grafenegg Academy Orchestra
12 July 2025An unforgettable evening with the Grafenegg Academy Orchestra
On 12 July 2025, around 60 outstanding young musicians from all over the world filled the Wolkenturm with an energy that could be felt. Under the baton of Jörg Widmann, the Grafenegg Academy Orchestra presented a thrilling programme: Mendelssohn's ‘Hebrides’ Overture, Widmann's own Violin Concerto No. 2 – masterfully interpreted by his sister Carolin Widmann – and Beethoven's Symphony No. 7.
Festival
14 August – 07 September 2025Festival Opening Weekend
On 14 August 2025, Fabien Gabel conducted the Festival Opening for the first time as the new principal conductor of the Tonkunstler Orchestra. The programme featured two masterpieces of 20th-century concert and symphonic music: Francis Poulenc's Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra and Richard Strauss's An Alpine Symphony. The soloists were French pianists Katia and Marielle Labèque.
The second day of the festival was organised by Grafenegg's young resident orchestra, the European Union Youth Orchestra: an ensemble from the orchestra performed in the Prélude, followed by the full orchestra in the evening at the Wolkenturm with a colourful programme.
The first matinee of the 2025 festival was presented by Grafenegg's artistic director Rudolf Buchbinder together with Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider. The two chose a cleverly coordinated programme for their matinee, beginning with Franz Schubert's confidently simple, short Sonata in D major, D 384. This was followed by Johannes Brahms' Sonata in G major, Op. 78, from 1878, and Ludwig van Beethoven's ‘Kreutzer Sonata’ in the auditorium.
The rest of the musical day in Grafenegg was organised by the Lucerne Symphony Orchestra under its principal conductor Michael Sanderling. Violinist Daniel Lozakovich made his Grafenegg debut as a soloist in 2025. For his first Grafenegg performance, he chose Jean Sibelius' Violin Concerto. Tchaikovsky's Fourth, performed after the interval, is certainly one of the most frequently played symphonies of the second half of the 19th century.
Festival Weekend No. 2
The second weekend of the festival was opened on Thursday, 21 August 2025, by the Tonkunstler Orchestra and Gustavo Gimeno. Kirill Gerstein performed as soloist in the first version of Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's famous Piano Concerto in B flat minor. Antonín Dvořák's Seventh Symphony was also on the programme.
The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by its music director Vasily Petrenko, performed two concerts in Grafenegg: on 22 August 2025, they played excerpts from films such as Harry Potter, Indiana Jones and Superman. Anne-Sophie Mutter was the soloist in John Williams' Second Violin Concerto. The following day, the young pianist Bruce Liu, winner of the 2021 Warsaw Chopin Competition, took centre stage with the orchestra.
In the matinee of the second festival weekend, Christina Pluhar and her ensemble L'Arpeggiata presented their new programme ‘Wonder Women’. Christina Pluhar's own magnificent arrangements tell stories that are funny and sad, dramatic and thoughtful, but always female-dominated. The programme combines traditional music from South America and Italy with works by Baroque composers.
The second festival weekend was concluded by the Gewandhaus Orchestra under Andris Nelsons with Jean Sibelius' Second Symphony and Antonín Dvořák's Violin Concerto with violinist Isabelle Faust as soloist.
Festival Weekend No. 3
The Czech Philharmonic Orchestra under Petr Popelka opened the third weekend of the festival. Born in Prague in 1986, Popelka presented himself – together with the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra – with music by Antonín Dvořák: the great Cello Concerto in B minor, brilliantly performed by Gautier Capuçon, one of the outstanding cellists of our time, and the melodious Sixth Symphony.
The following day, the Tonkunstler Orchestra brought the sounds of Bruckner and Saint-Saëns to the Wolkenturm. Alexandra Dovgan made her Grafenegg debut with Camille Saint-Saëns' Piano Concerto No. 2. The Tonkünstler Orchestra was conducted by German conductor David Afkham, who was a guest in Grafenegg for the second time since 2017 and provided a great symphonic counterpoint with Anton Bruckner's ‘Romantic’.
On 30 August 2025, the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra was a guest in Grafenegg under its principal conductor Alan Gilbert. The celebrated young violinist María Dueñas dedicated herself to Max Bruch's Violin Concerto No. 1 in this concert. Magnus Lindberg's ‘Feria’ for orchestra and Modest Mussorgsky's ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ in Maurice Ravel's instrumentation were also performed.
The festival Sunday of the third weekend began with a matinee featuring bel canto star Juan Diego Flórez. He performed songs and arias by Rossini, Donizetti, Massenet and Verdi, not to mention possible encores, during which the star tenor also enjoyed playing the guitar himself: a celebration of the highest vocal artistry.
The evening concert on 31 August 2025 was performed by the Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France under Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla. The young cellist Julia Hagen performed Edward Elgar's Cello Concerto. After the interval, the orchestra played two central works from the French repertoire: the symphonic depictions of nature in Debussy's ‘La mer’ and Ravel's rigorously planned, emotionally overwhelming ‘Boléro’.
Festival Weekend No. 4
The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Franz Welser-Möst, kicked off the final weekend of the festival with a performance at the Wolkenturm in Grafenegg. The programme featured Tchaikovsky's ‘Pathétique’ and Mozart's ‘Prague’ Symphony.
This was followed by two premieres: the first Grafenegg performances by the Orchestra dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia (4 September 2025), which arrived with its new principal conductor Daniel Harding, and the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (5 September 2025) under its former principal conductor Jaap van Zweden. Rudolf Buchbinder appeared as soloist in both concerts.
In the evening concert on 6 September 2025, Patricia Nolz, Florian Boesch and the Concentus Musicus Wien under Stefan Gottfried presented selected arias by George Frideric Handel in arrangements by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
The great Wagner singer Klaus Florian Vogt explored Schubert's song cycle ‘Die schöne Müllerin’ together with the Ensemble Acht at the last festival matinee in 2025.
Grafenegg Festival 2025
07 September 2025Rudolf Buchbinder and Beethoven belong together.
Our artistic director Rudolf Buchbinder is one of the legendary performers of our time. He is considered a benchmark, particularly as an interpreter of Ludwig van Beethoven's works. For the finale of the 19th Grafenegg Festival, he performed Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Concertos Nos. 4 and 5 together with the Tonkünstler Orchestra of Lower Austria, conducting from the piano.
A magnificent festival finale that brought the summer of 2025 to a fitting close!
«Ein wunderbarer Sommer voller herrlicher Musik ist zu Ende. Ich freue mich schon auf den Jubiläumssommer 2026!».