Summer Matinees at Esterházy Palace

Attention! We ask for your understanding that our matinees start on time and that we can only open the doors between the individual pieces. In your own interest, please make sure you are seated before 11.00 am. Thank you very much.

We recommend picking up your tickets 45 minutes before the start in the ticket store or purchasing them online in advance.

The matinees take place in the Haydnsaal or in the Empiresaal of Eisenstadt Palace, depending on room availability.

The musicians

joseph Haydn brass

The quintet consists of Peter Bauer (trumpet), Johann Stangl (trumpet), Florian Janezic (horn), Stefan Thurner (trombone) and Mario Smetana (tuba). The ensemble sees the performance of works by its namesake and other Viennese classical composers as its main artistic challenge.Since its foundation in 2000, joseph Haydn brass has been an integral and vital part of the musical life of Burgenland's capital city. The organization of the summer matinees at Esterházy Palace in Eisenstadt, which are presented in the form of entertaining and witty concerts, as well as countless concerts and performances at various festive events, are proof of this. Joseph Haydn brass is also active beyond the country's borders. Extensive concert tours have taken the ensemble to Belgium, Germany, Hungary, Italy and the USA.www.haydn-brass.at

About the “brass quintet” genre

The standard brass quintet consists of two trumpets, horn, trombone and tuba. This instrumentation enables a broad repertoire ranging from Renaissance music to modern music.The sound of this ensemble represents an attractive contrast to the woodwind quintet, which was very popular in Viennese classical music. In addition to its use as signal and marching music, the wind ensemble was discovered very early on for appealing works by renowned composers.

Haydn Quartet

The Haydn Quartet consists of Fritz Kircher (first violin), Martin Kocsis (second violin), Gerswind Olthoff (viola) and Nikolai New (violoncello). The ensemble is based at Esterházy Palace in Eisenstadt, where Joseph Haydn lived and composed for almost 40 years, thus continuing the tradition of Esterházy musical culture. The ensemble gives concerts in almost every country in Europe, tours America (including New York's Carnegie Hall) and Asia and performs regularly at major festivals. In the Haydn Year 2009, the quartet performed all 69 of Haydn's string quartets in its own cycle in Vienna. Regular tours of the Far East took the quartet most recently to China in 2011, where it gave concerts at the National Center For Performing Arts in Beijing, among other venues. Numerous world premieres and a CD production for the German Music Council (2012) with contemporary music document the quartet's versatility. www.haydnquartett.com

About the “string quartet” genre

The string quartet is considered the supreme genre of classical chamber music. In no other genre is the balance between equal partners and the mutual interaction of the voices so important. Goethe compared quartet playing to a discourse between reasonable interlocutors. Joseph Haydn, who was instrumental in perfecting the genre, is regarded as the “father of the string quartet”.