Tag Archives: stage performance

Carmen at Römersteinbruch

We just watched Carmen at the Roman stone quarry in Sankt Margarethen, which is about an hour south of Vienna. It is one of the biggest open air Opera festivals in Europe, similar to Verona. With its unique scenery, which is fully integrated in the performance, it becomes a fascinating experience. Read more here.

Carmen

Parking is available for free; however, be aware that there is another one charging €10 for the night. Inside the arena food and drinks are available at a reasonable price. Also, there are two backstage-tours available for a couple of Euros previous to the performance. Check the exact times at the link above. There are plenty of hotels around, we stayed in this one, which I can recommend. Check-in is 24/7 with a self-service machine.

Here are a few photos of our trip! We stopped in Baden for coffee on the way there and before hitting the road back, we enjoyed the scenery in Laxenburg.

For Good

Recently, I once again ran over the song “For Good” from the musical Wicked. I’d like to share this few but meaningful words from the beginning of that song. I watched the performance in San Francisco a couple of days before I returned back to Austria after studying for two semesters in the US. For me, this is true in so many cases. I’m thankful I knew you all.

I’ve heard it said
That people come into our lives for a reason
Bringing something we must learn
And we are led
To those who help us most to grow
If we let them
And we help them in return
Well, I don’t know if I believe that’s true
But I know I’m who I am today
Because I knew you…

“For Good” from Wicked, by Stephen Schwartz

No One Mourns The… Wicked!

The last of numerous highlights at my south-west trip I decided to be the musical Wicked. I actually never planned to see it. Also I was very skeptical about this production. Anyway, I recognized it is played at the Orpheum Theatre so I just tried my luck. Fortunately, there were some tickets left at the box office.

The stage design and the music where just awesome! I purchased the cast album and the souvenir book during the intermission. Now it is your turn to discover the untold story of the witches of Oz!

A Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols

The Emory University Chorus and the Emory Concert Choir were giving a wonderful Christmas Carol Concert this weekend at the Glenn Memorial Auditorium. I attended the Saturday 5pm performance. At least after this performance I do not accept any longer people saying that America is a culture-free zone! It was awesome and very Christmasy 🙂 The program is available here.

La Cenerentola

Yesterday I’ve watched the opera La Cenerentola at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre. Atlanta has no opera building, but there is an Atlanta Opera Organisation. It was a great performance, as I expected it from a Rossini opera. Sure, Vienna is superior 😉

La Cenerentola (http://www.virginiascenic.com)
La Cenerentola (http://www.virginiascenic.com)

Header photo “Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre” by J. Glover, Atlanta, Georgia

Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra

I just came back from a fantastic concert of the Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra under the conductor Antoni Wit. They are currently on a tour through the United States and gave a concert this evening at Emerson Concert Hall / Schwartz Center.

  • Serenade for String Orchestra, op. 2 (1897) (Mieczyslaw Karlowicz)
  • Piano Concerto No. 1, E-flat Major (Franz Liszt)
  • Symphony No. 2, op. 73, D Major (Johannes Brahms)
Antoni Wit (©http://www.filharmonia.pl)

Usually, tickets for this performance are 80 Dollars. Emory offers a “passport for creativity and arts” for students which contains a lot of vouchers for concerts, exhibitions… including this one. The passport is just for eight Dollars! What an amazing offer!

Concerts at Emerson Hall

Last week I’ve been to two concerts in the Emerson Concert Hall at Schwartz Center for Performing Arts. The concert on Tuesday, “Magnificat”, was about organ and choral music from the sixteenth century. On Friday, the Emory University Symphony Orchestra gave a concert under the conductor Richard Prior.

Magnificat

Tuesday, October 21st, 2008, 8pm; pictures

  • There Shall a Star from Jacob Come Forth (Felix Mendelssohn)
  • Vom Himmel hoch, da komm’ ich her (Georg Böhm)
  • Vom Himmel hoch, da komm’ ich her (Johann Pachelbel)
  • Vom Himmel hoch, da komm’ ich her (Michael Praetorius)
  • Organ Sonata op. 65, no. 3 (Felix Mendelssohn)
  • Wir glauben all’ an einen Gott BWV 680 (Johann Sebastian Bach)
  • Magnificat in D major BWV 243 (Johann Sebastian Bach)
Emory University Choir

Concert of the Emory University Symphony Orchestra

Friday, October 24th, 2008, 8pm, pictures

  • Overture to The Barber of Seville (Gioachino Rossini)
  • Fantasy for Piano, Chorus and Orchestra, op. 80 (Ludwig van Beethoven)
  • Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, “Pathetique” (Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky)
Deborah Thoreson, Piano

Chicago

Last weekend I’ve been to Chicago to attend the Austria Science Talk 2008. Maria and I already arrived on Friday morning. We met at the airport and went to the City center to the Allerton Hotel where we got a pretty amazing rate over hotwire.com. After checkin we walked along N Michigan Ave. I was overruled an so we spent some time shopping at the Water Tower Place. As recommended in the tourist guide, we went for pizza at Giordanos. After lunch we took the bus to Millennium Park to see “The Bean” / Cloud Gate. It was already time to go home and prepare for the evening.

Cloud Gate / “The Bean”

We enjoyed the show Dirty Dancing at the Cadillac Palace Theatre. It was a neat experience! A very American show! And pretty cheesy too. We spent the end of this freezing evening at a Starbucks around the corner with some hot chocolate.

Dirty Dancing at The Cadillac Palace Theater

On Satruday, after a short breakfast, we went straight to the Millennium Knickerbocker Hotel. After a small welcome reception, the presentations started. It was nice to hear about Austria. At about one we had lunch. Maria and I went for a short walk before the afternoon program, the world café, started. For the end of the afternoon program, drinks were served. The evening program took place at the University of Chicago. It was a small panel discussion about the US presidential election. Afterwards we enjoyed dinner and Austrian wine.

Before we went out, Maria and I visited the John Hankok Tower. We spent about an hour at the observation deck. It was amazing. It was impressive!

South View from John Hancock Tower

Not it was time for drinks. We met with some other Austrians from the Science Talk and had several good conversations in a nice bar.

Chicago Skyline, John Hancock Tower from Lake Michigan

On Sunday, our last day in Chicago, we went for a boat tour after breakfast. The boat brought us to Lake Michigan where we were able to see the whole skyline of Chicago. After Lake Michigan we went along the Chicago River. We were lucky, because right after the boat tour which was about two hours, it started to rain. But we didn’t mind – we went for a hot chocolate at Starbucks.

T. Rex at Field Museum of National History

It was still raining when we hit the road to the Field Museum of National History to see the largest complete skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex. This was actually the last thing we did before we picked up our luggage back at the hotel and left for the airport. We were quite lucky to catch our planes because we had troubles with the subway. We were waiting about half an hour and additionally we had rail replacement bus service for the last couple of stations. We checked in 5 minutes before last checkin. At the airport we had a quick final coffee and then left for Montréal and Atlanta.

It was an awesome weekend. Chicago is a great city! Here are the pics. I’m still working on the video. Check the news on the main page. I’ll post it there when it is available.