Film Festival 2009 at the Wiener Rathausplatz
With Tatjana’s writing her letter to Tchaikovsky’s Eugen Onegin, on 30 August, the Film Festival at Wiener Rathausplatz 2009 came to a glorious end both for this summer’s audiences and the organisers…
Weather oddities notwithstanding, thousands of spectators, listeners, passers-by, fans, flaneurs, and regulars were once again turning the square in front of Vienna City Hall into the heart of a vibrant world capital of music. From 27 June to 30 August, all in all 657,000 music-lovers from all over the world have been enjoying this summer’s most inviting marriage of culture and the culinary, a unique liaison of high-calibre music and dance films culled from the IMZ members' production pool and the delicious delights of the international gastronomy rounding off the unrivalled Wiener Rathausplatz experience. No more, no less than a splendorous celebration of tradition and the contemporary, of opera, operetta, classical and modern dance, jazz, pop and world music: For youngsters and old stagers, for friends and families, the curious of all ages, lovers, experts, sceptics and novices. In addition to continuing the series of “Haydn, Handel, Mendelssohn-Bartholdy” conjuring up on screen the waters and fires of The Creation, the lightning love of Semele, or the dancing literature landscapes of a Midsummer Night’s Dream in Le Songe, the programme of the film festival’s 19th edition – curated by the IMZ and organised in co-operation with the City of Vienna – offered many new opportunities to meet the protagonists of today’s music theatre, as there was Carmen aka Vesselina Kasarova in her role debut, Rigoletto at Semper Oper Dresden, Orlando revitalised at the Opera House Zurich, La Traviata at Zurich Main Station, Salzburg's Don Giovanni in the woods, Luisa Miller, Cadmus and Hermione, Wagner’s Wotan heading for Walhall in La Fura dels Baus’ new staging of Rheingold in Valencia…
Furthermore, jazz aficionados could enjoy Sonny Rollins in Vienne, and a high-spirited Paul Anka once again claimed that Rock Swings, crossing over and opening the Rathausplatz for a new genre, also introduced by a sophisticated blend of Rock classics such as Zappa Plays Zappa, Cyndi Lauper, and The Cure… All in all, great fun, food for thought, and a most promising basis for a grand celebration of the event’s 20th anniversary that is being celebrated in summer 2010! We’ll keep you posted…