Scenic oratorium by Hans Köhl and Shane Woodborne
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Dates
1st weekend of Advent
Fri 28.11. 19.30 Premiere
Sat 29.11. 14.00/17.00
Sun 30.11. 14:00
2. Advent weekend
Fri 5. 12. 19.30
Sat 6. 12. 14.00/17.00
Sun 7. 12. 14.00/17.00
Mon 8.12. 14:00
3rd Advent weekend
Fri 12. 12. 19.30
Sat 13. 12. 14.00/17.00
Sun 14. 12. 14.00/17.00
Duration of the performance:
approx. 1:40 hours, no intermission
Thoughts on the Salzburg Advent Singing 2024
This time, the barren Dachstein massif, which is climatically comparable to the biblical mountains of Judea, forms the backdrop for the Salzburg Advent Singing. The “Blind Shepherd” and his companions form a dramatic arc to the Advent events surrounding Mary and Joseph. With his heightened senses, he perceives much more than the sighted people around him and – above all – he sees well with his heart. Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was not the only one to grasp this profound sensory perception in “The Little Prince”; the blind shepherd Teiresias was also attributed similar insights in Greek mythology. During an encounter with Mary and Joseph, he uses his heightened senses to grasp the birth of the Redeemer prophesied by Isaiah. The Advent events take their course.
With this Advent song, which I am working on with the composer Shane Woodborne, the biblical events are transferred to our alpine landscape, similar to the way the numerous nativity scene builders and figure carvers have been doing it for centuries in their typical regional representations. The characters surrounding Mary and Joseph – from the angel who holds his protective hand over everyone, to the shepherds who are astonished by the events, to the hard-hearted innkeeper – will once again all portray a characteristic personality. Finally, little Peterl will surprise the blind shepherd with an almost unbelievable story!
With wonderful musical and vocal performances
If you come once, you'll keep coming back!
The history of the Salzburg Advent Singing is like a good book, it never ends with the last page, but has been opening up new perspectives again and again for 79 years now. With over 150 singers, musicians and performers, this cradle of all Advent carols is a very special experience for around 36,000 visitors every year. It has already delighted generations of guests from all over the world. “Those who come once, come again” – this credo is probably the best compliment for the Advent Singing family.
Food for the soul
At each of the 16 performances in the Grosses Festspielhaus, you can feel how the audience breathes with the performers. A unique, energetic aura develops, the feeling of a large community, which reaches its climax at the latest when the devotional yodel is sung together. Over the years, the famous Salzburg Advent Singing has become a valuable, often annual source of nourishment for the soul for over two million visitors.
A unique experience
There is probably no other event of this genre that offers such a high artistic level. Driven by the longing for unity and peace as well as the meditative power of silence, this year’s Advent events can be experienced from the perspective of a blind shepherd. Folk music and classical music, contemporary sounds, the play of the shepherd children and impressive scenic performances with the events surrounding Mary and Joseph – all of this forms a harmonious whole in its elegant simplicity that is second to none.
Leading Team
Hans Köhl
has been the main director of the Salzburg Advent Festival for 25 years. He is also managing director of the non-profit Kulturwerk Salzburg GmbH, which acts as the organizer of this traditional Salzburg cultural institution. He is where all the threads of this internationally renowned event come together.
Every year, he conceives new scenic-musical complete works, writes the books, takes care of the folk music components and develops new Salzburg Advent songs in close cooperation with the respective composer. A tireless search for new approaches and their contemporary implementation while incorporating valuable traditions is the driving force behind his successful work.
Conscious of his responsible, traditional heritage, Hans Köhl sets the highest possible artistic standards for himself and all those involved. Under his leadership, the Salzburg Advent Singing always surprises with new experiences of the Advent events and the mystery of the divine miracle of birth.
Shane Woodborne
studied cello and piano in Cape Town, South Africa and at the Mozarteum University in Salzburg. During his studies, he increasingly devoted himself to composition. He has been commissioned to write works for the Beethoven Society Bremen, the Zeitfluss Festival Salzburg, Jeunesse and the Lindesnes Chamber Music Festival Norway, among others. These include works for choir and orchestra as well as song cycles, solo works and chamber music. The musician and composer has been a member of the Camerata Salzburg since 1992.
Shane Woodborne has composed numerous musical works for world premieres and new versions of Salzburg Advent carols such as “Da hat vor dem Stall der Äpfibam bliaht” (1999, 2007), “Siehe ich bin des Herren Magd” (2002), “Maria” (2009), ‘Sehnsucht’ (2013), “Schnee in Bethlehem” (2015, 2022), “Fürchte dich nicht!” (2020, 2021, 2022) and “The Blind Shepherd” (2017, 2024)
Herbert Böck
First musical training as a Viennese Sängerknabe – soprano soloist. Studied conducting, oboe, composition and music education at the Vienna University of Music. 1985-1989 solo oboist with the Vienna RSO. 1989-1998 artistic director of the Vienna Singakademie with conducting duties at the Vienna Konzerthaus.
Chief conductor of the Vienna Jeunesse Orchestra, artistic director of the Concentus Vocalis, since 1995 professor of choral and ensemble conducting at the Mozarteum University Salzburg. Founded the Mozarteum University Chamber Choir in 2007.
Collaborations with the Vienna Philharmonic Wind Ensemble, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, Vienna Chamber Orchestra, Lower Austrian Tonkünstler Orchestra, Orchestra Santa Cecilia die Roma, Orchestre Philharmonique de Radio France, Slovenian Philharmonic Orchestra Ljubljana, Radio Orchestra Budapest, Symphony Orchestra Latvia, RIAS Chamber Choir Berlin, Berlin Radio Choir, MDR Choir Leipzig, WDR Choir Cologne. Numerous concert tours throughout Europe, to Russia, Israel and the USA.
Herbert Böck has been a congenial conductor for the Salzburg Advent Singing since 2001, who appreciates and respects folk music as a basis and for whom working with choirs is a much-loved task.
Gerda Gratzer
Gerda Gratzer celebrated her debut as an acting director at the Salzburg Advent Festival in 2022. The sensitive artist grew up in Carinthia and studied musicology, ethnology, cultural management and drama in Graz and Salzburg.
She was artistic director of the International Music Weeks Millstatt, managing director of the youth music competition Prima la Musica in Salzburg and finally devoted herself entirely to theater. She founded the Theater Panoptikum and the Theater der Freien Elemente, worked as an actress for many years and directed more than 30 plays (“Drei Mal Leben” by Yasmina Reza, “Der thermale Widerstand” by Ferdinand Schmalz, ‘Glück’ by Kateřina Černá, “Acht Frauen” by Robert Thomas, “Die Wunderübung” by Daniel Glattauer and many more).
Gerda Gratzer leads seminars for acting and directing and is also a systemic psychotherapist with her own practice.
www.gerdagratzer.at
Brigitte Schiebler
Before becoming self-employed, master tailor Brigitte Schiebler worked for many years as a professional for the Salzburg Festival. In her studio, the creative design, cut and draft director produces enchanting unique textile items such as business outfits, bridal and evening wear, dirndl dresses, made-to-measure shirts and interior decorations. The Salzburg native also makes exclusive costumes for international fashion shows and also provides expert opinions as an appraiser and textile expert.
Brigitte Schiebler loves magical things, including the challenge entrusted to her to design a distinctive and fascinating costume design for the new production of the Salzburg Advent Singing and to produce it using her craftsmanship.
www.zauberhaft-salzburg.com
Mask:
Nicole Klingseisen
Elena Schachl
Work 2024
Contributor
People and their actors
Eva Maria Schinwald
celebrated her stage debut in 2013 with the leading role in the contemporary opera “Die Kavalleristin” by Adriaan de Wit. In 2014, she was engaged for the first time in the Salzburg Advent Singing “Der Sterngucker” at the Großes Festspielhaus/Salzburg as “Maria”. In 2017, she delighted the audience as a soprano in the role of the angel in the work “Der blinde Hirte”. In 2021, Eva Maria Schinwald enchanted audiences as an actress and soloist in the role of “Maria” in the anniversary Advent Singing (without an audience due to coronavirus), performed as ‘Maria’ in the work “Snow in Bethlehem” in 2022 and also delighted audiences in this role in 2023.
Concert tours have taken the lyric soprano to Germany, the Hugo Wolf Festival in Slovenia and London, where she sang J.S. Bach’s St. John Passion with the Salzburg Bach Society and the Baroque Orchestra of the Royal School of Music. She has also appeared in numerous staged productions at the Salzburg State Theater and the Salzburg Festival.
Eva Schinwald completed her master’s degree in singing at the Mozarteum Salzburg with distinction. She completed international masterclasses with Horiana Branisteanu, Edda Moser, Helena Lazarska, Margreet Honig, Gerhard Kahry and Wolfgang Holzmair.
www.evaschinwald.com
Johannes Forster (Bariton)
The baritone studied singing with Albert Hartinger and John Thomasson at the Mozarteum in Salzburg.
The singer made his debut on stage as a boy at the tender age of 10 in the leading role of the children’s opera Pollicino, and was later heard at the festival in La Bohème and Der Rosenkavalier. The world premiere of Arvo Pärt’s Our Father was also one of his early engagements.
As a male voice, he found his way onto the Salzburg male ensemble scene with the vocal ensemble Hohes C, which was named World Choir Champion in 2014 and is now also part of the Salzburg Advent Singing. Other ensembles include the Ruperti Viergesang, with a focus on folk music, and Lungo5, in close harmony and barbershop style.
He took on the leading role of Dismas in the staged Salzburg Passion Singing in 2019 and 2022 and performed as an actor and singer in the Shepherd’s Advent from 2018-2024. He sang as a soloist with the Salzburg Bach Choir under Howard Arman and in various Festival productions. He can also be heard as a lieder singer and interprets songs by Shane Woodborne and Franz Schubert together with the Quadrophonie Salzburg.
The versatile singer ranges from Renaissance and Baroque music to Romantic songs and contemporary atonal music, as well as jazz, pop and musicals. He imparts his knowledge as a singing teacher and choir director at the Musikum Salzburg and numerous choirs.
Masterclasses have led him to artists such as Wolfgang Holzmair, Sascha Wienhausen und The King’s Singers
Elisabeth Eder (Sopran)
Salzburg native Elisabeth Eder – soprano, harpist, musicologist, teacher – grew up in Großarl in Pongau and has been embodying the role of the angel as a soprano soloist since 2018.
She completed her artistic, pedagogical, scientific and musicophysiological training (concert subject, IGP studies, teaching degree, music physiology, university didactics, PhD studies) at the Mozarteum University Salzburg, the Paris Lodron University Salzburg, the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna (all eight degrees or academic degrees with distinction as well as two university courses). She received the Award of Excellence 2022 (Austrian State Prize for the best doctoral theses) for her doctoral thesis. In November 2023, she was awarded the Ring of Honor of the Republic of Austria by Federal President Alexander Van der Bellen on the occasion of her doctorate sub auspiciis at the Mozarteum University.
Elisabeth Eder teaches singing and pedagogical-scientific courses at the Mozarteum University Salzburg. She demonstrates her artistic versatility as a soloist, chamber musician and with various orchestras and choirs at national and international level. As a soprano soloist, she can be heard regularly in Salzburg Cathedral and in various concert. she regularly plays in the Salzburg Philharmonic Orchestra, has won first prizes at international and national competitions and has played with many renowned orchestras at home and abroad, such as the London Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Sir Simon Rattle. Concert tours have taken her to the Elbphilharmonie Hamburg, the Barbican Hall London, the Verona Opera and Milan, the St. Petersburg State Academic Capella and many more.
Website: www.elisabeth-eder.at
www.elisabeth-eder.at
Edwin Hochmuth (Bariton)
The qualified social care worker and Tyrolean actor Edwin Hochmuth completed his acting training in 2006 at the Sachers acting school in Innsbruck. Since then, he has appeared on many stages. Important stages include the Tiroler Landestheater, the Innsbruck Kellertheater, the Theater in Effingerstraße in Bern, the Tiroler Volksschauspiele in Telfs and many more. He has also appeared in various TV and cinema productions. In addition to his passion for acting, Edwin also works as a caregiver at the Axams state children’s home.
Since August 2023 he has been the director of the Tyrolean theater festival “Stummer Schrei”.
Hochmuth first appeared at the Salzburg Advent Festival in 2012. In 2018, he was hired for the role of the shepherd Jaggerl. Since then, he has performed with the shepherd children at the Salzburg Advent Singing every year. He and the children enjoy performing with the Salzburg Little Shepherds so much that he always enjoys coming back to Salzburg.
http://www.edwin-hochmuth.at/
Salzburger Hirtenkinder
Valentin Aster (Trompete)
Lena Bernhofer (Kontrabass)
Lisa Brunauer (Querflöte)
Julia Burkali (Geige)
Hannah Marie Fuchs (Geige)
Marlene Fuchsberger (Hackbrett)
Mia Karl (Gitarre)
Niklas Mischkulnig (Geige)
Benjamin Nagl (Posaune)
Jana Neuherz (Querflöte)
Mateo Prenninger (Harmonika)
Sophia Rosenberger (Geige)
Luis Schinagl (Trompete)
Rebekka Singer (Klarinette)
Philipp Stadler (Harmonika)
v.l.: Gerda Gratzer, Hans Köhl, Gudrun Köhl-Korbuly, Markus Helminger, Elena Seywald (not in the frame)
Vocal ensembles
The Salzburg Folk Song Choir
80 singers
Rehearsed by Burgi Vötterl
The Salzburg Folk Song Choir has been an important pillar of the Salzburg Advent Singing since 1950. Generations of excellent singers have borne and continue to bear witness to the high vocal quality of this traditional ensemble.
The Dengg family is now the third generation of the Dengg family to conduct the choir. Sepp Dengg since 1950, Harald Dengg since 1972 and his daughter Burgi Dengg since 2001. The organizational leadership has been in the proven hands of Berta Wagner since 2007.
Under the direction of Herbert Böck (since 2001), this choir community of around 80 participants blossoms into a very special top form every year in the Grosses Festspielhaus.
www.salzburgervolksliedchor.at
VOKALENSEMBLE HOHES C (quartet)
In 2024, the vocal ensemble Hohes C will once again delight us with a changing quartet line-up at the Salzburg Advent Singing. The singers convince with their special sound spectrum from cultivated Renaissance works to folk music and “crispy” pop arrangements.
Concert tours have taken the ensemble to South Africa, Germany, Italy, Finland, Croatia and Canada in recent years. At the largest choir competition in the world, the World Choir Games in Riga, the ensemble was able to impress in the Male Vocal Ensemble category and was crowned WORLD CHOIR CHAMPION. The ensemble was also awarded a gold medal (Musica Sacra acapella) and a silver medal (Folklore).
from left Tobias Kremshuber (baritone)
Johannes Schmidhuber (tenor)
Valentin Stemeseder (baritone)
Bernhard Ainz (baritone)
Benedikt Gurtner (tenor)
Florian Schneider (bass)
Tobias Widhalm (bass)
www.facebook.com/hohes-C-Vokalensemble
The three Salzburg natives celebrate their stage debut as a triad at the Salzburg Advent Singing 2024. Soprano Christina Standl is an enthusiastic mountain sportswoman and travels a lot musically with her two sisters Anna and Magdalena as the “3mäderlhausgsang”. In addition to singing, she also plays the flute, dulcimer, harp and guitar in the family ensemble.
This year, mezzo-soprano Veronika Gruchmann will be singing the second part. She developed a love of folk music as a child. She made music with her siblings and other ensembles from an early age. Veronika studied instrumental and vocal pedagogy with trumpet as her main subject at the Mozarteum Salzburg, as well as studying to become a teacher. She works as a teacher for music education and trumpet in Salzburg.
The mezzo-soprano Maria Brunauer also grew up with traditional Austrian folk music. She studied concert singing and vocal pedagogy at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Munich. Since graduating, she has worked as a freelance opera singer, teaches singing at the University of Augsburg and is a member of the Bavarian Radio Concert Choir.
Orchestra
v.l. Johannes Rohrer (Zither)
LG: Reinhold Schmid (Gitarre)
Ingeborg Weber (Harfe)
Elisabeth Neureiter (Hackbrett)
Elisabeth Weber (Orgelportativ)
Magdalena Kufer (Kontrabass)
v. l.
Gundl Aggermann (Flöte)
Burgi Vötterl (Geige)
Timea Laczkò-Tòth (Cello)
Andrea Brucker (Bratsche)
Lg: Maria Dengg (Geige)
Magdalena Kufer (Kontrabass)
v.l. Erwin Wendl (Posaune)
Hans Gerl (Horn)
Christina Eberl (Trompete; Flügelhorn)
Christian Sperl (Horn)
Lg: Horst Hofer (Trompete, Flügelhorn)
Thomas Höger (Posaune)
v.l.n.r.:
Anton Gmachl (Klarinette)
Gundl Aggermann (Flöte)
Lg: Gottfried Linsinger (Oboe, Englischhorn)
Gerti Hollweger (Fagott)
Stefan Prommegger (Bassetthorn)
Technology & equipment
Lg: Hubert Schwaiger
Light-Inspiciency: Thomas Herbst
Hans Köhl
Gerda Gratzer
Hubert Schwaiger
Lg: Edwin Pfanzagl-Cardone
Lg: Helmut Schauer
Joinery Alfred Laserer, Gosau
Ticket service & Administration
Das Ticketservice-Team
under the management of Gertraud Ainz does a great job every year. Always polite and courteous, they strive to fulfill all the wishes of the 36,000 or so visitors to the Advent Festival each year. A recent visitor survey attests to the ticket service team’s very high satisfaction ratings!
from left to right: Gertraud Ainz, Regina Strübler
Stefan Sperr
is responsible for accounting, controlling and IT matters. His decades of experience as head of this important administrative area and his financial expertise are of particular value to the Salzburg Advent Festival.
Hans Köhl
has been the main director of the Salzburg Advent Festival since the turn of the millennium. He is also the managing director of the organizer “Kulturwerk Salzburg” and is responsible for all aspects of this successful cultural event.
Residenzplatz 9
A – 5010 Salzburg
