Ceremonial Event: Festive Opening of the Bruckner Festival Linz 2026

At the podium of the Upper Austrian Youth Symphony Orchestra, Swedish conductor Kajsa Boström makes her debut, featuring music by her great-grandfather, the Swedish national composer Ture Rangström, who conducted the first performance of a Bruckner symphony in Sweden with Bruckner's 8th Symphony in C minor in 1922 in Gothenburg. Against this backdrop, Rangström's music enters into dialogue with Bruckner during the festive event, which includes Bruckner's setting of August von Platen's "Mein Herz und deine Stimme" in an orchestrated version, sung by Rafael Fingerlos. Prior to this, the world premiere of a new work by Linz composer Thomas Doss will be performed, specifically engaging with Bruckner's sound world. The grand finale will feature Bruckner's orchestration of the first movement of Ludwig van Beethoven's "Pathétique" Sonata, which he wrote down in September 1862 in Linz.