For many music lovers, summer means the Vienna Philharmonic’s annual concert at the city’s Schönbrunn Palace—a spectacular live performance of classical favorites in front of more than 100,000 people. Russian Valery Gergiev was 2018’s guest conductor, bringing a taste of Italy to the Austrian capital. Music by the great Italian composers, including arias from Verdi’s Aida, Puccini’s Tosca, and Leoncavallo’s Pagliacci, complement composers inspired by Italy itself—Prokofiev (Romeo & Juliet) and Julius Fučik (Florentiner Marsch) among them. The orchestra is joined by soprano Anna Netrebko for this thrilling, heartwarming, balmy evening of great music-making.
- Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra & Mariss Jansons
- London Symphony Orchestra & Nikolaj Znaider
- Martha Argerich, Seiji Ozawa & Mito Chamber Orchestra
- Philharmonia Orchestra & Vladimir Ashkenazy
- Evgeny Kissin & Emerson String Quartet
- Bamberg Symphony Orchestra & Herbert Blomstedt
- Staatskapelle Dresden & Myung-Whun Chung