PRESS RELEASE published on 21 May 2014

EBU brings Schönbrunn Summer Night Concert to the world

Music lovers are counting down to this month’s annual Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (VPO) Summer Night Concert, which will be delivered by the EBU and its Members on Thursday 29 May from Vienna’s Schönbrunn Palace.

Around 40 EBU Members are expected to broadcast the concert live or by deferred transmission of an edited version on 11 June in cooperation with Austrian EBU Member ORF as part of the EBU’s three concert VPO package*.

The EBU will also provide the satellite signal for an array of television stations outside the European region, delivering the concert to a huge global audience, in addition to the 100,000 concert goers who yearly attend the concert.

The concert will be conducted by German-born pianist Christophe Eschenbach who holds positions in Washington, D.C. as music director of the National Symphony Orchestra and music director of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and feature a solo by Lang Lang, the concert pianist who has performed with leading orchestras in Europe, the United States and his native China.

Programme highlights include:

  • Hector Berlioz, "Carneval Romain"
  • Franz Liszt, "Mazeppa"
  • Richard Strauss, "Burleske"
  • Encore Lang Lang, To be confirmed
  • Hector Berlioz, "Benvenuto Cellini"
  • Richard Strauss, "Till Eulenspiegel"
  • Johann Strauss Sohn, "Wiener Blut", Walz
  • Johann Strauss, "Furioso Polka"

EBU Media Director Annika Nyberg Frankenhaeuser says the EBU takes enormous pride in having delivered the Summer Night Concert to TV and radio audiences since 2009.

“Public service broadcasting is about excellence and universality, two qualities that the Summer Night Concert embodies,” said Ms Nyberg Frankenhaeuser. “With this free concert in a public space, the EBU is able to make classical music accessible to an audience far beyond its usual core.”

CLASSIC PARTNERS

The EBU’s TV and radio distribution package negotiated with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra runs until 2017 and comprises three classical concerts exclusive to EBU Members:

• The world-renowned New Year’s Concert from the Musikverein Concert Hall, Vienna.  
• The annual Summer Night Concert Schönbrunn, at the Schlosspark, Schönbrunn Palace, Vienna.
• A special concert held in a different international location each year.  This year’s standout offer is a special concert in Sarajevo on 28 June linked to World War I Centenary commemorations across Europe. As part of a coproduction involving BHRT (Bosnia & Herzegovina), ZDF (Germany) and France Télévisions, Eurovision will transmit the concert to audiences worldwide.

 

Contact

Pierre Duret
EBU Project Manager 
duret@ebu.ch
T +41 22 717 2411

Related links

Press release in German