the common citizen, for whom Austria is Music,
Waltz, Mozart and, perhaps, Arnold Schwarzenegger
- as well as on that of the wellinformed who
immediately associate the country with Freud,
Schnitzler, Stefan Zweig, Musil, Fritz Lang,
Billy Wilder, Otto Preminger, Klimt, Egon Schiele,
Oskar Kokoschka, Romy Schneider, Helmut Berger
and Klaus Maria Brandauer. Not to mention its
music where, beyond the already cited Mozart,
Haydn, Schubert, Johann Strauss, Franz Lehár,
Mahler, Bruckner, Schoenberg and Alban Berg, Anton
Webern, Joe Zawinul, Alfred Brendel, Nikolaus
Harnoncourt, the Vienna Art Orchestra, the
Vienna Philharmonic, DJ Ötzi, Falco, the Alpunk
movement and the hyperactive urban electronica
scene, are all unquestionable references.
Austria would always be a tempting candidate for
the Country Theme at Casa da Música given our
history of proliferating relations with musicians
and institutions as the late Joe Zawinul, Alfred
Brendel, Vienna Art Orchestra, Klangforum Wien,
Wien Modern, LINZ09 and a significant number of
composers who benefited through commissions from
Casa da Música, such as Olga Neuwirth, Johannes
its programme the concept of a Country Theme
as the main thread for its concert season.
The choice of Spain as Country Theme in 2007
was guided by the criteria of music order and
geographic proximity, conscious perhaps that
not always Spain has been translated at the
level of cultural and artistic interchange.
group of countries from the far north of Europe,
as a geographic and sociocultural counterpoint;
an extraordinary example of the implementation
of a notable music education system and of the
support and stimulation policies for heritage
preservation and its dissemination which makes
excellence in all cultural and musical domains
one of the trademarks of the Nordic Countries.
of Portuguese influence. It is difficult to talk
about Brazil and imagine Brazil without music.
eastern country of the Holy Roman Empire:
Österreich, the "Eastern border". It is Austria,
the Music Country par excellence, which had
and still has in Vienna the paradoxical centre
of tradition and innovation, the stiffest
conservatism and the boldest vanguardism, which we
plan to confront at Casa da Música in 2010.
Dynasty. Portugal shares a very similar
geographical dimension and number of inhabitants,
as well as the same religion. Amongst the
many things that distinguishes us, there is
the cultural, historic and geo-political
context. Portugal, peripheral and with only
one terrestrial border, had to leave early
to search for the Other; anchored between the
Germans, Italians, Hungarians, Bohemians and
Ottomans, for Austria it was always the case
that the Other came to her. Being in the centre
of so many diverse influences, a remarkable fact
is that Austria throughout its history knew
how to build a very strong identity that, seen
from outside, has culture as its trademark.
Thomas Larcher and Wolfgang Mitterer, who will be
Composer in Association at Casa da Música in 2010.
for the 150
death) offers a unique framework for Orquestra
Nacional do Porto to show all its potential
in the complete set of the Austrian genius's
symphonies, which will start in January.
moments of the 2010 programme, not only in
the form of the music of its great composers
but also with the regular presence of its
great performers and the very varied music
genres. Do not miss the programme Austria
2010, marked throughout the brochure.