Music Festival Schloss Weinzierl 2026

The Music Festival at Schloss Weinzierl will take place from May 15 to 17, 2026, marking its 17th edition, and this time it is themed "Enchanting." The artistic direction and planning are once again in the hands of the Altenberg Trio Vienna. The program is inspired by magic, fairy tales, and musical enchantment. The four concerts will span a late piano trio by Haydn, program music such as Paul Dukas' brilliant setting of Goethe's "The Sorcerer's Apprentice," or the touching expressiveness of a Bach suite for solo cello, to captivating, expressive chamber music in larger ensembles that enchant with their richness of sound. As an additional visual element, dance will be featured for the first time in the Arkadenhof on Saturday afternoon during the music festival. The well-known Ö1 presenter Stephanie Maderthaner will guide the program.

The program for the opening concert on May 15 will almost traditionally begin with a work by Haydn, one of his late piano trios that continually fascinate with their musically mature mastery. With oriental and folkloric echoes, Khatchaturian's clarinet trio, written in 1932, transports listeners to a completely different sound world, seamlessly followed by Dukas' "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" with romantic-impressionistic tones. This work was notably visualized in 1940 with the scene "Sorcerer Mickey" in Walt Disney's "Fantasia," where Mickey Mouse acts as the apprentice sorcerer battling brooms and water to Dukas' music, creating a fascinating visual interpretation that endures to this day.

In the second part of the concert, the virtuoso-dramatic first piano quartet by Dukas' contemporary Gabriel Fauré will be performed. The prelude concert on Saturday afternoon will feature dance for the first time at the music festival, as a visual and expressive art form that enhances and complements the music. An exciting program will be played, starting with Bach's 6th Suite for solo cello. Following that, the American "Minimal Music" composer Steve Reich will demonstrate how a single clarinet, through audio playback—as if by magic—can transform into an entire clarinet ensemble. Finally, you will hear Prokofiev's rarely performed, enchanting sonata for two violins.

The evening concert on Saturday at 7:00 PM will continue with fairy-tale sounds. It will begin with Schumann's late Fairy Tales— a four-part work for clarinet, viola, and piano. A story from One Thousand and One Nights served as the libretto for Carl Maria von Weber's opera "Abu Hassan"; from this, the original overture in a version for piano four hands will be heard. At the end of the first part, Brahms' clarinet trio, which fascinates with its dark, velvety tones, will be on the program. César Franck's piano quintet, composed in 1880, is attributed with a "scorching emotional-explosive power," making it the ideal conclusion to an intense program.

The matinee on May 17 at 11:00 AM will shine in various colors: a bright B-flat major movement from a clarinet quintet by Mozart—of which the remaining three movements were presumably lost due to carelessness—will be contrasted with the existentially questioning Fantasy in F minor for piano four hands from Schubert's last year of life, 1828. Prokofiev's overture on Hebrew themes, his successful entry into the New York music scene in 1918, will conclude the first part. Dvořák's Piano Quintet Op. 81 came about by chance: the composer found his early Piano Quintet Op. 5 while cleaning up and was reportedly so dissatisfied with it that he immediately began a new composition. The result is a true bouquet of enchantingly beautiful melodies and a masterpiece inspired by folkloric forms like Dumka, Furiant, or Polka, with which the Music Festival Schloss Weinzierl 2026 will conclude.

Friday, May 15, 2026, 7:00 PM
"Fantasia"
Haydn: Piano Trio in E-flat major Hob. XV:29
Ioana Christina Goicea
Peter Somodari
Avo Kouyoumdjian
Khatchaturian: Trio for Clarinet, Violin, and Piano (1932)
Thorsten Johanns
Ioana Christina Goicea
Christopher Hinterhuber
Dukas: L’Apprenti sorcier - The Sorcerer's Apprentice for 2 Pianos
Christopher Hinterhuber
Avo Kouyoumdjian
*** Intermission ***
Fauré: Piano Quartet No. 1 in C minor Op. 15
Ioana Christina Goicea
Tomoko Akasaka
Peter Somodari
Christopher Hinterhuber

Saturday, May 16, 2026
5:00 PM, Prelude Concert
"Dances"
Bach: Cello Suite No. 6 BWV 1012
Steve Reich: New York Counterpoint for Solo Clarinet and Tape
Prokofiev: Sonata for Two Violins Op. 56
Duration approx. 45 minutes without intermission
Peter Somodari
Thorsten Johanns
Ioana Christina Goicea
Robert Einenkel
In cooperation with the dance company Of(f) Verticality, directed by Rose Breuss
Stephanie Maderthaner, Moderation

7:00 PM, Evening Concert
"1001 Nights"
Schumann: Fairy Tales Op. 132
Thorsten Johanns
Tomoko Akasaka
Avo Kouyoumdjian
Carl Maria von Weber: Overture to "Abu Hassan" for Piano Four Hands
Avo Kouyoumdjian
Christopher Hinterhuber
Brahms: Clarinet Trio Op. 114
Thorsten Johanns
Peter Somodari
Avo Kouyoumdjian
*** Intermission ***
César Franck: Piano Quintet in F minor Op. 14
Ioana Christina Goicea
Robert Einenkel
Tomoko Akasaka
Peter Somodari
Christopher Hinterhuber

Sunday, May 17, 11:00 AM, Matinee
"Colorful"
Mozart: Clarinet Quintet KV 516c (Fragment, completed by Robert Levin)
Thorsten Johanns
Ioana Christina Goicea
Robert Einenkel
Tomoko Akasaka
Peter Somodari
Schubert: Fantasy in F minor D 940
Christopher Hinterhuber
Avo Kouyoumdjian
Prokofiev: Overture on Hebrew Themes Op. 34
Thorsten Johanns
Ioana Christina Goicea
Robert Einenkel
Tomoko Akasaka
Peter Somodari
Christopher Hinterhuber
*** Intermission ***
Dvořák: Piano Quintet in A major Op. 81
Ioana Christina Goicea
Robert Einenkel
Tomoko Akasaka
Peter Somodari
Avo Kouyoumdjian