NEWSLETTER FEBRUARY 2009
Visitor numbers on the increase at HAUS DER MUSIK
Boom among schools and young people
in 2008 a total of 203.000 people visited HAUS DER MUSIK in Seilerstätte. This was an increase even on the high visitor numbers of the previous year - despite a noticeable dip during the UEFA European Football Championship, which led to dwindling visitor numbers in many of Vienna's museums and exhibition halls.
School teachers and their pupils also played a significant part in this pleasing result. 28.500 schoolchildren visited the Sound Museum - just under 7.000 of them from abroad, more than 6.500 from Vienna itself and about 15.000 from the rest of Austria - in order to try out the interactive displays and learn about the history of Austrian music.
These numbers do not include the thousands of youngsters who attended the concerts for children with Marko Simsa and Bernhard Fibich.
"Confronting children and young people with music, introducing them to the world of sound and encouraging their musical talents is one of the primary aims of the museum," says Simon K. Posch, CEO and Director of Haus der Musik. "We take our responsibility to educate very seriously, and that is why we work closely with schools and institutions offering musical education."
Focus on Haydn in 2009
As well as increasing our programme of concerts and events for our younger visitors, there will also be another main focus during 2009: Joseph Haydn. As well as its permanent exhibition, HAUS DER MUSIK has been preparing small but exquisite rarities as a contribution from Vienna which will complement the major events taking place in Eisenstadt and the surrounding area.
Other major events this month are Dr. Clemens Hellsberg, CEO of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, in conversation with Lang Lang - the shooting star among pianists - and the premiere of the HD montage of the highlights of the New Year's Day concert on the big screen.
 | Hellsberg meets Lang Lang 16.02.09 at 6.30 pm in the Inner Courtyard of the Sound Museum.
He has enjoyed triumphs all over the world and enthralled huge audiences in a manner normally only achieved by pop stars: Lang Lang, 27, from China, not just the perfect technician but also a good-looking entertainer. He will be talking - in English - to Dr. Clemens Hellsberg, CEO of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, about his life, his popularity and his favourite composers. |
 | Intense, lyrical, unique: Marilies Jagsch The songwriter live on stage at the HAUS DER MUSIK on 19.02.09
Marilies Jagsch: pure sensuousness, poetry that could hardly be felt more intensely. Dark, sometimes bright and cheerful, then contemplative, then breaking out into gaiety again. HAUS DER MUSIK, in association with the Vienna Songwriting Association, presents Marilies Jagsch. |
 | New Songs for Children Bernhard Fibich with "New Songs for Children", 10.02.09
Bernhard Fibich in English. He will be performing a selection of his best songs, getting the kids involved and at the same time giving them extra help with English in a fun way. Music knows no boundaries, particularly where languages are concerned. The CD "New Songs for Children" can be ordered from Bernhard Fibich via his website - and you can also download a few extra treats. It's certainly worth paying the site a visit. |
 | Haydn for Children "Surprise Symphony and National Anthem" 20.02.09 at 3.30 pm in the HAUS DER MUSIK
Marko Simsa, the children's favourite, will present his own Haydn programme to celebrate Haydn Year 2009. It will, of course, include the Surprise Symphony with its crash of kettledrums, with which Haydn planned to prevent his audience from dozing. |
 | In celebration of Papa Haydn The Haydn Year at the Sound Museum
He was one of the most productive and at the same time one of the most revolutionary composers in history: Joseph Haydn, who spent most of his life in Eisenstadt - a fact that he often cursed but also loved, because here he was able to compose whatever came into his head - even pieces with a hidden agenda - almost irrespective of what was happening around him. |
 | Education, enjoying music and experiencing sound The HAUS DER MUSIK as a "School of Music"
Over the past few years, umpteen thousand schoolchildren and hundreds of teachers have visited HAUS DER MUSIK and discovered new ways of experiencing music here. HAUS DER MUSIK has plenty to offer in this area: specially prepared digital and electronic teaching material for teachers, as well as its own introductory courses for teachers, organised very successfully and with a great deal of commitment by Professor Hubert Gruber-Rust. |
 | Tip: a drama that guarantees that tears will flow Premiere of "Rudolf - the Mayerling Affair" in Vienna's Raimundtheater
Vienna's Raimundtheater - in effect a sister company of HAUS DER MUSIK in the culture cluster of the Wien Holding group - will be staging a musical in February which deals with the tragic and legendary double suicide of Crown Prince Rudolf von Habsburg and his lover Mary Vetsera. |
