Wiener Symphoniker parties in style at the Concertgebouw

By Clare Varney, 04 November 2025

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“the musicians revelled in Popelka’s musicality”

Reviewed at Concertgebouw: Main Hall, Amsterdam on 3 November 2025

Grieg, Piano Concerto in A minor, Op.16

Grieg, Lyric Piece, Op.12, no.1 “Arietta”

Mahler, Symphony no. 1 in D major "Titan"

Strauss II, Tritsch Tratsch Polka, Op.214

Strauss II, Unter Donner und Blitz (Thunder and Lightning Polka), Op.324

Jan Lisiecki, Piano

Vienna Symphony Orchestra

Petr Popelka, Conductor

Resplendent Strauss from Canellakis and the Wiener Symphoniker

Mark Pullinger, 17th December

Leif Ove Andsnes joins the Vienna Symphony in the Musikverein's Golden Hall for a glowing account of Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto before a terrific Tod und Verklärung.

*****

Stefan Herheim’s bold Fledermaus at MusikTheater an der Wien

Chanda VanderHart, 13th October

Herheim’s Fledermaus is a risky experiment that, miraculously, works – at least in a city that knows it so intimately.

****1

Grigorian and Akhmetshina dazzle in a secular Norma

Chanda VanderHart, 19th February

In a week where Vienna welcomes two new productions of Bellini's Norma, MusikTheater an der Wien sets a high bar with Vasily Barkhatov's staging.

****1

A spectacular Freischütz in Bregenz

Thomas Schacher, 19th July

At the Bregenz Festival, director Philpp Stölzl gives us a radical updating of the classic, with an interpretation many miles away from Weber.

***11

Love in time of the drug wars: a contemporary Tancredi at Bregenz

Orsolya Gyárfás, 18th July

Anna Goryachova and Mélissa Petit shine as doomed lovers Tancredi and Amenaide, while Jan Philipp Gloger's contemporary setting has much to offer, but doesn't quite nail the landing.

***11

Vienna goes to Hollywood: Oksana Lyniv conducts the Wiener Symphoniker

Mark Pullinger, 5th May

Erich Korngold and Arnold Schoenberg – Viennese emigrés in Hollywood – formed the unlikely pairing in the Ukrainian conductor's Konzerthaus programme.

***11

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Clare Varney

Clare is a freelance writer and music critic from the UK, currently living in the Netherlands where she writes about Music, Food and Culture. Clare is a passionate musician, having learnt the violin and piano from an early age. When not at her laptop writing, she spends her time nurturing the next generation of brass players, all from her Dutch kitchen in the sky. Read more at The Spidy Editor.

History at every turn: the Wiener Symphoniker parties in style at the Concertgebouw