Name: 5th Music Association Concert
Start: 2026-05-12T19:30:00
Location: Stefaniensaal

Xavier De Maistre

Bertrand De Billy

Oper Graz

Graz Philharmonic Orchestra

Whether singing, dancing, or instrumental music – you can expect a diverse program in an intimate setting, performed by ensemble members, dancers from the Graz Ballet, members of the Graz Philharmonic, and guests. Admission is free!

Espresso concert

In On the Town, three sailors are on shore leave in search of the sights of the city and a charming city dweller to accompany them. Not exactly an easy goal to achieve under time pressure ... Leonard Bernstein’s first musical, staged by musical professional Felix Seiler, offers not only catchy hits, but also humorously drawn characters to fall in love with – and plenty of fun and verve!

On the Town

Giuseppe Verdi sends his protagonist Rigoletto on an emotional rollercoaster ride between feigned hilarity, honest paternal love and human abysses. Director Ute M. Engelhardt takes a look behind the facade of the joker and into the maw of the brutalised society in which the title hero finds himself. On the podium: chief conductor Vassilis Christopoulos, who once again devotes himself to a Verdi opera after his gripping interpretation of Macbeth.

Rigoletto

Italian Brian Scalini, Australian Jack Traylen and Etay Axelroad from Israel take on the exciting challenge of discovering dance from a new perspective and presenting an evening together in mutual inspiration. The three young choreographers approach dance in very different ways. Each of them has a unique choreographic signature and bold ideas. They show “pure dance”, close to the audience: sensual, provocative, powerful and surprising.

Ring

“I want to experience something for once, not just bat my eyelashes” is the motto of the strong-willed, karate-wielding Snow White in Elena Kats-Chernin and Susanne Felicitas Wolf’s powerful version. Supported by the life-size rabbit Richard III and 77 dwarves from the Graz Opera singing school, Snow White succeeds in taking her life into her own hands and escaping persecution by her deceitful stepmother. Lovingly encouraging fun for the whole family with a fast-paced musical mix of classical, musical and pop, cartoon film music and pop songs.

Snow White and the 77 Dwarfs

Chamber Concert 4 »String Trio Profound«

Soloists from the Graz Opera ensemble will celebrate the start of New Year 2026 with a generous helping of Italianità together with the Graz Philharmonic Orchestra under the baton of their longstanding conductor Marius Burkert! Titles by Austrian composers such as Robert Stolz’s “Arrivederci bella Italia” or “Wo die Zitronen blühn” by Johann Strauss Sohn make the longing and wanderlust for the country in which “everything dissolves into peace and serenity” audible. One always remains clear, always equanimous, always objectively tuned”. 

"Beautiful Italy!"

Chamber Concert 5 »Viennese Music«

The Divine Comedy, Divina Commedia, is the main work of the Italian poet Dante Alighieri (1265-1321) and is considered the most important work of Italian literature and the basis for the modern Italian language. In it, Dante describes the stages of a journey through an otherworldly world. The Roman poet Virgil leads the author, who is also his own main character, through hell and purgatory. On their way, Dante and Virgil encounter the countless souls of the deceased, who tell of their respective fates. In paradise, Dante finally meets his childhood sweetheart Beatrice. In his reunion with her, the poet discovers the power of love and finds inner peace and tranquillity.

Choreographer Estefania Miranda uses the literary model for an “expansive” choreography. She asks about people’s greatest fears and desires and what might await our souls after death. She transfers the biblical deadly sins into a contemporary context. In the first part of the evening, we experience various choreographic installations on a journey of discovery through the opera house, which translate torments and sins into a contemporary dance language. In the second part of this sensual Gesamtkunstwerk, the audience follows Dante’s path to paradise from the auditorium as usual.

La Divina Comedia

Alban Berg revolutionised the opera tradition in 1925 with a gripping story that combines drama, murder and social study. The folk opera stars Daniel Schmutzhard (Wozzeck) and Annette Dasch (Marie), together with chief conductor Vassilis Christopoulos on the podium of the Graz Philharmonic Orchestra, explore the expressive sound world of Berg’s masterpiece. After his successful Austrian debut in Graz with Richard Wagner’s Tannhäuser and stints in Vienna and Salzburg, director Evgeny Titov returns to Graz Opera with one of the most important operas of the 20th century.

Wozzeck

With Francis Poulenc's rarely performed Organ Concerto, Christian Schmitt brings us a virtuoso performance of the concert hall organ in the Graz Musikverein. In Camille Saint-Saëns's famous Organ Symphony , the organ later functions as an instrument almost equal to the orchestra. A new sonic discovery, however, is "Amor Fati ," an orchestral piece in which the contemporary Cretan composer Giorgos Koumendakis brings the music of his homeland to life without the use of traditional Greek instruments, for example, through rich ornamentation in the strings, thiaboli and mandora sounds, and rhythmic patterns of transcribed birdsong in the woodwinds.