An Alpine Symphony with Reinhold Messner
The world of mountains in music and words
Richard Strauss' Alpine Symphony captures the spirit of the mountains: their majesty, their beauty, and their indifference to humankind. This music possesses the same archaic power that tests us in the mountains, humbles us, and at the same time allows us to rise above ourselves.
– Reinhold Messner
A true artistic summit meeting awaits the audience when mountaineering legend Reinhold Messner as narrator meets Richard Strauss' epic tone poem An Alpine Symphony. Exciting reports, stories, and photographs from and about Messner's expeditions enter into dialogue with Richard Strauss's tonal depictions of the mountains. As an atmospheric alpine prelude, the Würth Philharmonic Orchestra, together with Orchestra and Choir of the Salzburg Philharmonic, will present Edgar Elgar's choral song cycle From the Bavarian Highlands. The British composer created the work after a stay in Garmisch as a musical homage to Bavarian Alpine folk music. An evening that combines late Romantic orchestral music and adventure stories into an impressive overall experience.
In Richard Strauss' Alpine Symphony, I hear our own existence. The radiant sunrise becomes a symbol of human birth, the ascent of the mountain an image of our growth—carried by hope, strength, and curiosity. The obstacles along the way reflect the trials of life. At the summit, we stand for a moment in full awareness of ourselves—clarity, greatness, fulfillment. The storm breaks in like the unpredictable, which shapes and shakes us. And the evening, the return to darkness, is not an end, but a quiet falling asleep—carried by memory, gratitude, and peace.
—Elisabeth Fuchs
E. ELGAR · From the Bavarian Highlands, Op. 27
R. STRAUSS · An Alpine Symphony, Op. 64
Reinhold Messner · Narrator
Elisabeth Fuchs · Conductor
Salzburg Philharmonic Choir
Würth Philharmonic Orchestra
Salzburg Philharmonic Orchestra
THURSDAY, January 7, 2027 · 7:30 p.m.
FRIDAY, January 8, 2027 · 5:00 p.m. · 8:30 p.m.
Großes Festspielhaus, Salzburg
The concert is expected to last approximately 120 minutes, without intermission.
The unusual concert times on Friday are due to the renovation of the Festspielhaus and the associated creation of cavities in the Mönchsberg.
Ticket prices: €28 to €120
25% discount on a 3-ticket subscription
Individual tickets available from May 5
Organizer - Tickets: Philharmonie Salzburg
Photos: © shutterstock, © ronny_kiaulehn