Grafenegg Music Festival enters its 16th season this summer. In an all-out summer night gala on June 22 and 23, the open air Wolkenturm resounded with the voices of American-born tenor Eric Cutler and Lithuanian-born soprano Asmik Grigorian singing an array of exceptional selections from an operatic repertoire.
Rudolf Buchbinder, artistic director of the Grafenegg Festival since its founding in 2007, opened the evening with Yutaka Sado conducting the Lower-Austrian Tonkunstler Orchestra in Carl Maria von Weber’s Euryanthe overture.
Eric Cutler gave a marvelous rendition of Wagner’s “In fernem Land” from Lohengrin. Mr.Cutler has graced stages throughout Europe and the United States including the Metropolitan Opera, Bayreuth, Houston Symphony Orchestra, Baden-Baden, and Theatre le Monnaie in Belgium. Born in Adel, Iowa, and an alumnus of Luther College and the Metropolitan Opera’s Lindemann Young Artists Development Program, Eric Cutler debuted at Grafenegg this year. Along with his rendition of Wagner, his solo performances with work from Jules Massenet’s El Cid and Ruggero Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci graced the amphitheater with sublime tenor’s notes shared in conclusion with Asmik Grigorian in a stunningly beautiful Verdi duet of Othello and Desdemona.
Asmik Grigorian was at her absolute best in her duet with Eric Cutler as Desdemona. The two harmonized like oils in a beautiful painting, both filling the house with their incredible soprano and tenor voices. After her recent appearance in Pagliacci at the Vienna State Opera, followed with a moving Dvořák “Song to the Moon” from Rusalka.
Gautier Capucon performed a brilliant 3rd movement from Dvořák’s B-flat concerto for violoncello and orchestra, and Yutaka Sado took him one step further with a fulminant display of fireworks by Dvořák in his “Slavic Dance” in C-major.
What comes through this season in Grafenegg is the talent and dedication of today’s performers. Where the likes of Pavarotti took center stage a generation ago or Rostropovich with his twelve cellists from the Berlin Philharmonic, the new generation is proving itself to be equally talented. The operatic excellence of each artist on stage was unbroken throughout the performance.
One can say that Prokofiev’s cello suite from Romeo and Juliet (1935) is not an everyday occurrence. Neither is Mr. Capucon’s mastery of it. In an amphitheater filled to capacity with only the balmy sky above, the cello strains sounded as if Montagues and Capulets needed sojourn no further than Grafenegg for this opera about the supreme sacrifice of love.
This season Grafenegg is the new home of the European Youth Orchestra. Tonkunstler Orchestra celebrates fifty years as Grafenegg’s house orchestra. In addition, the following orchestras will also perform this summer in Grafenegg:
- Grafenegg Academy Orchestra
- Kyiv Symphony Orchestra
- Estonian Festival Orchestra
- Budapest Festival Orchestra
- Orchestra della Svizzera Italiana
- Philharmonia Orchestra London
- The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra
- Mahler Chamber Orchestra
- Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin
- Concertgebouworkest
- Orchestra e Coro Teatro Alla Scala
- Wiener Philharmoniker
World-class conductors including Manfred Honeck, Vladimir Jurowski, Sir Antonio Pappano, Riccardo Chailly, and Daniel Harding will grace the pult of the Wolkenturm amphitheater.
Grafenegg has risen to become one of the finest regional European music festivals. The unique blend of nature, architecture, and music makes one feel as though the great romantics are still at home here. Its well coordinated hosting is another point in its favor. For those who want a change from a big-city cosmopolitan summer, Grafenegg, just an hour away from Vienna, is truly a connoisseur’s festival, singular in its beauty and musicality.
For those who would like to see the Summer Night Gala on television, it will be re-broadcast on July 1st on 3SAT at 8:15 p.m.
