styriarte Festival Edition

Summer after summer since 1985, Nikolaus Harnoncourt’s home town of Graz has been transformed into a laboratory where the conductor can delve into musical masterpieces and bring them to life. The location of this laboratory: the styriarte festival, where great, unheard pieces can be fine-tuned in both a concentrated and relaxed way and where a curious audience waits to tread new paths.

Every year, Harnoncourt conducts three or four productions at styriarte, together with his favourite musicians and singers in the wonderful halls of the Styrian capital: in the classical Stefaniensaal, built in 1908, and in the functional Helmut-List-Halle from 2003, for which Harnoncourt was involved in the concept planning. Uncountable productions in this atmosphere have enchanted not only thousands during the live performances but have also made their way out into the world as radio or television broadcasts or on CD or DVD for different labels.

A very special moment in the relationship between Nikolaus Harnoncourt and the styriarte was when the conductor offered to take on the role of director, for his first and last time, in Graz for Mozart’s Idomeneo. In order to show this work to the world, we have created the “styriarte Festival Edition” based on the six performances in the Helmut-List-Halle in July 2008.

Now, after the release of this publication, we hope to show further highlights of Harnoncourt’s work in Graz in the coming years in a succession of similar publications, where the significance of the production and the work involved is reflected in a comprehensive accompanying booklet. Furthermore, it should be a lively publication which can and will be expanded on this website.

Mathis Huber