Vienna’s ORF Radio Symphony Orchestra Partners With Carinthian Summer Festival

The partnership will see the radio symphony become the resident orchestra of the Carinthian Summer Music Festival 

As of 2024, the ORF Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra (RSO) will serve as the resident orchestra of the Carinthian Summer Music Festival, as announced by their respective artistic directors, Angelika Möser and Nadja Kayali. 

The multi-year partnership will begin on July 6, 2024, in the Congress Center Villach with Portuguese conductor Joana Carneiro. Dedicated to women in music, the program comprises works by Fanny Hensel, Clara Schumann, Louise Farrenc, plus a world premiere Hannah Eisendle.

The soloist for Clara Schumann’s only piano concerto will feature the American pianist Claire Huangci.

Additionally, on August 4, 2024, the ORF RSO will perform with the British conductor Wayne Marshall in George Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue, where Marshall himself will perform the solo piano part.

Other works on the program include John Williams’ music to the Harry Potter films and to Steven Spielberg’s movies including Star Wars, Schindler's List, E.T., and Indiana Jones.

“The new partnership with the ORF RSO Wien is a matter close to my heart and an enormous benefit for our festival,” said Carinthian Festival’s artistic director Nadja Kayali in the press release. “[ORF RSO] is one of the most outstanding orchestras in the country. It has an incomparably broad range of styles; this orchestra can play everything from classical to contemporary music. 

“The ORF RSO Wien as a festival orchestra is a guarantee for large orchestral projects at the highest level over several years,” Kayali continued. “In this way we can develop a real collaboration that is truly sustainable.”

“The Carinthian Summer — like our orchestra — stands for a diverse musical offering,” added Möser. “We are particularly pleased that the ORF RSO Wien will now be heard regularly in Carinthia. As an orchestra for Austria, contact with music-loving people across the country is particularly important to us.”