Salute to Vienna New Year's Concert in Chicago
BASED ON VIENNA'S BELOVED NEUJAHRSKONZERT
December 30, 2023 2:30 PM
Orchestra Hall, Symphony Center
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"A rousing afternoon of music and dance."
– Washington Post
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Salute to Vienna Cast
Strauss Symphony of America featuring the Chicago Philharmonic
Featuring dancers from Europaballett (Austria)
Michael Zehetner (Vienna)
Conductor
Michael Zehetner began his musical life as a pianist, later studying orchestral conducting at the Vienna Conservatory. He has received awards from the Austrian Ministry of Culture, the Richard Wagner Association, and the Upper Austrian Government. He was appointed conductor at the German theatres of Detmold and Erfurt and has served as guest conductor at the Lehár Festival Bad Ischl in Austria since 2010. Maestro Zehetner has worked with the Slovak Philharmonic, the Ensemble Neue Streicher Klosterneuburg, the Neue Oper Wien, the Polish Baltic Philharmonic Orchestra, Vereinigte Bühnen Bozen, and the symphony orchestras of Göttingen and Nürnberg. As a musical director for Bühne Baden he has been responsible for numerous opera and operetta productions at Bühne Baden in Austria.
Brigitta Simon (Vienna)
Soprano
Brigitta Simon completed her Master’s degrees in opera, Lied and oratorio, and instrumental and vocal pedagogy at the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna. She has been awarded numerous prizes at national and international singing competitions, and was a 2009 Operalia finalist. She has performed as a guest soloist with a number of orchestras worldwide, appearing in some of the world’s most famous concert halls, like the Grand Hall of the Berliner Philharmoniker and the Golden Hall of the Wiener Musikverein. Onstage, she performed such roles as the Queen of the Night (Magic Flute), Olympia (Tales of Hoffmann), Violetta Valéry (La traviata) and Adele (Die Fledermaus). She has had the pleasure of working with renowned artists like Plácido Domingo, Ruggero Raimondi, Zubin Mehta, Helmut Deutsch and many others.
David Danholt (Vienna–Copenhagen)
Tenor
After his education at the Royal Danish Opera Academy, Jugendlicher-Heldentenor David Danholt established a career throughout Europe, the United States, and the Middle East. He has performed at Oper Leipzig, the Royal Danish Opera, the Royal Concertgebouw, Royal Albert Hall, Florida Grand Opera, Michigan Opera Theatre, Seattle Opera, and the Israeli Opera. Mr. Danholt is the recipient of many awards, including first prize in the International Wagner Competition in Seattle, the Reumert Talent Prize, the Danish Music Critics’ Association Award, and most recently, the prestigious Aksel Schiøtz Prize.