News
The 31st Merano Music Weeks – a festival for true connoisseurs
22 April 2016
You simply have to plan a stay in Merano between 23 August and 22
September if you’d like to hear outstanding and refined symphonies in one of
the most beautiful concert halls of the Alps. The 31st edition of the Merano Music Weeks returns to the
city and surely won’t disappoint the visitors flocking to the garden and
thermal bath city of Merano for a festival which has become a classic in the
South Tyrolean event calendar. The opening concert is one of the first
highlights of the programme: the Orchestra Filarmonica della Scala from Milan,
one of the most respected Italian orchestras, will be performing on the night
of 23 August against the backdrop of the splendid Art Nouveau atmosphere in the
Kursaal. The able hands of its conductor, Riccardo Chailly, will lead the
orchestra on that night.
In the following five weeks, guests will also hear the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Jirí Belohlávek, featuring soloist Hilary Hahn (29 August), the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Gianandrea Noseda (1 September), the Orchestre Français des Jeunes conducted by David Zinman (6 September, featuring soloist Elsa Dreisig), and the MDR-Sinfonieorchester Leipzig conducted by Kristjan Järvi (9 September, featuring Denis Kozhukhin). What’s more, three orchestras from Asia will also perform in the city, namely the Chinese Shenzen Symphony Orchestra and the Korean KBS Symphony Orchestra and Suwon Philharmonic Orchestra.
The closing concert on 22 September is quite a
spectacle in itself. Teodor Currentzis – the young rising star in the
international orchestra conductor scene, will be guiding the orchestra along on
that night. The young musical savant built his credentials and an operatic
empire in the Siberian town of Perm, and will delight the South Tyrolean city with
a performance aided by the Mahler Chamber Orchestra (featuring soloist Pekka
Kuusisto).
The Merano Music Weeks have grown into a premium festival over the
course of three decades. This year is no different than the others, for next to
the tried-and-tested programme the festival will also feature new offers. These
include a new series of concerts titled ‘barocco’, to premiere on 25 August
with the Concerto Köln, and a series of filmed concerts to be shown on the main
square of the thermal baths under the name of ‘Prelude’.
2016 is thus the first year in which the festival calendar embraces five
scintillating facets of music: symphonies (classical music), Baroque music
(barocco), crossover projects (colours of music), chamber music (matineé
classique), and acapella concerts (vox humana).
You may be wondering what exactly lies behind the success of the Merano
Music Weeks? The beautiful thermal city itself is one possible answer, of
course, being a bastion for wellbeing and thus an ideal host for the series of
concerts. But it’s more than just that. What about the unique stages scattered
around the city and the numerous sites lying just a stone’s throw away such as
the Palais Mamming, the parish church, the spacious square in front of the
thermal baths, the fresco hall in Schenna Castle, the parish church in Lana di
Sotto with its impressive Schnatterbeck altar (which is one of the most
important works of art from the late Gothic period in South Tyrol), or the
large mediaeval hall in Tirol castle. Merano is always well worth a visit, and
not just for fans of classical music.
Information | Tickets
Freiheitsstraße 29, I-39012 Meran
Tel. +39 0473 496030