Vienna Hofburg Orchestra
For those who love the uplifting music of Johann Strauss the Younger, the inimitable Vienna Hofburg Orchestra offers the opportunity to hear the nineteenth-century’s undisputed waltz king time and time again.
Founded by Gert Hofbauer in 1971, the Vienna Hofburg Orchestra brought together musicians from a host of Viennese musical societies with the common aim of championing the delights of two of Austria’s greatest contributions to world music: the Viennese Waltz and Viennese Operetta. Now a company of thirty-six instrumentalists and six solo singers, the Orchestra’s programmes feature, in particular, Strauss’ music, but also contain selections from the works of his father, Johann Strauss I, brother, Josef Strauss, Gaetano Donizetti, Franz Lehár, Emmerich Kálmán and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
The Vienna Hofburg Orchestra performs several times a week across the year. In addition to much-loved classics like the ‘Tritsch-Tratsch-Polka’ and ‘The Blue Danube’, Strauss the Elder’s’ ‘Radetzky-Marsch’, Mozart’s ‘Papageno, Papagena’ duet from The Magic Flute, and Lehár’s ‘Lippen schweigen’ (‘Lips are Silent’) from The Merry Widow are also amongst the delights to be found in the Orchestra's repertoire.
Some of Austria’s most beautiful concert halls provide the stage for the Orchestra’s concerts: the Hofburg Vienna, the former imperial palace of the Habsburg dynasty; the Musikverein, one of the most iconic venues for the performance of classical music, whose New Year’s Concert is broadcast around the world; and the Wiener Konzerthaus, which first opened its doors to audiences in 1913.
Spend an evening in the company of the musicians of the Vienna Hofburg Orchestra and be transported back to an era when Europe danced to the sound of Austria’s music.
Extract of the Program:
- Kaiserwalzer - J. Strauss
- Als Flotter Geist - Zigeunerbaron - J. Strauss
- Vergnügungszug - Polka -J. Strauss
- Eljen à Mágyar - Polka schnell
- Wiener Blut - Duett - J. Strauss
- "Die Fledermaus" - Ouverture der Operette
- Wiener Blut - Walzer
- Ein Mädchen oder Weibchen, Papageno - Papagena (Zauberflöte - W.A. Mozart)
- Radetzkymarsch - Marsch