Around All Saints’ Day, Mozart’s Requiem, one of the best-known pieces of music history, often features on orchestral programmes.  Even though, this composition is no novelty to nearly any of us, it is one of those masterpieces that convey an inexhaustible message, and one longs to hear them again and again. Mozart’s Requiem is surrounded by countless legends, which make it all the more special, though it already stands out from its composer’s oeuvre with its grim tone and archaic features.  Albeit there are hundreds of Requiems in music history, we tend to search for familiar, cult compositions to help us reminisce.
The concert also features an unknown work by another though contemporary Salzburg-born composer, Klemens Vereno. In his piece, the highly prolific composer and university professor now in his 60s reflects upon his predecessor, Mozart.  The orchestral composition consists of the dialogues of Mozart’s melodies. The themes enter into interaction with one another, and what we hear from the stage is what we normally hear in our own mind after listening to Mozart’s music.

Candle-lighting ceremony in front of Kodály Centre Concert Hall from 6 p.m.

On the marble benches in front of the building, not only members of the Orchestra but also everybody from the audience will have the chance to light a candle in memory of their deceased loved ones and Orchestra’s late members.  The candles will burn on the steps of the Kodály Centre Concert Hall during the concert evoking memories of late loved ones and making the moments of remembrance more intimate.

Losing our loved ones is terribly painful. There are several pieces in music history describing the emotions evoked by the loss of our loved ones but one which stands out is Mozart’s Requiem which is a uniquely dramatic, heartfelt piece emphasising pain and profound emotions. The uniqueness of the piece is also reflected in the fact that it can adapt to the reverent milieu of a church as well as to an imposing concert hall.  

The London sketches - written in the summer of 2005 on behalf of the Salzburg state government for the Mozart year 2006 - the year of Mozart's 250th birthday: eight composers were invited to deal with Mozart and eight cities that were important for his life and work. I had decided on London - which at first glance does not have such an intense reference to Mozart as Vienna or Prague.

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Mozart's only sea voyage - the so-called London sketchbook (in which Mozart noted ideas, drafts, attempts - uninfluenced and uncontrolled by his father) - the encounter with Johann Christian Bach - the late yearning for England ... all of this gave formal, atmospheric, tonal suggestions for these Mozart metamorphoses.

Some of Mozart's characteristic themes - or the tone sequences on which they are based - are woven into the London sketches. Except for a short excerpt from a magical Andante from the London sketchbook (1764), which appears like an island, Mozart's motifs are not cited in their harmonious context, but mostly used as compositional “raw material” - although the connoisseur or more precisely Listening will surely make some discoveries.

A calm introduction is followed by a two-part section, in both parts of which an urgent movement (sound associations with journeys in the 18th century can arise ...) lead to a calmer, imitative-polyphonic development.

Then the music leads back to the opening chord, from which - played by a string trio - the wonderful E flat major Andante by eight-year-old Mozart emerges as if out of a fog and then recedes again. After a scherzo-like transition (based on a motif taken from the name J. Chr. Bach), the final section unfolds like a dream a polyphonic network in which almost a dozen Mozartian motifs are hidden.

Klemens Vereno, born in Salzburg in 1957;

Studies at the Mozarteum University: composition (Cesar Bresgen) and conducting (plus violin and singing); further studies in composition with Rudolf Kelterborn (Basel Music Academy); Since 1978 teaching (harmony and counterpoint, instrumentation, figured bass etc.) at the Mozarteum University, 1978-85 at the Bruckner Conservatory in Linz and 2000-08 at the Richard Strauss Conservatory in Munich; since 2008 also lecturer at the International Summer Academy Mozarteum.

Commitment and numerous initiatives for contemporary music in Salzburg.

Performances of his works by the Basler Madrigalisten, Camerata Salzburg, Salzburg Bach Choir, Ensemble "die reihe", International Bach Festival, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, oenm (Austrian ensemble for new music), ORF (Austrian Broadcasting), Vokalquintett Berlin and others.

The London sketches - written in the summer of 2005 on behalf of the Salzburg state government for the Mozart year 2006 - the year of Mozart's 250th birthday: eight composers were invited to deal with Mozart and eight cities that were important for his life and work. I had decided on London - which at first glance does not have such an intense reference to Mozart as Vienna or Prague.

Mozart's only sea voyage - the so-called London sketchbook (in which Mozart noted ideas, drafts, attempts - uninfluenced and uncontrolled by his father) - the encounter with Johann Christian Bach - the late yearning for England ... all of this gave formal, atmospheric, tonal suggestions for these Mozart metamorphoses (see the topic table).

Some of Mozart's characteristic themes - or the tone sequences on which they are based - are woven into the London sketches. Except for a short excerpt from a magical Andante from the London sketchbook (1764), which appears like an island, Mozart's motifs are not cited in their harmonious context, but mostly used as compositional “raw material” - although the connoisseur or more precisely Listening will surely make some discoveries.

A calm introduction is followed by a two-part section, in both parts of which an urgent movement (sound associations with journeys in the 18th century can arise ...) lead to a calmer, imitative-polyphonic development.

Then the music leads back to the opening chord, from which - played by a string trio - the wonderful E flat major Andante by eight-year-old Mozart emerges as if out of a fog and then recedes again. After a scherzo-like transition (based on a motif taken from the name J. Chr. Bach), the final section unfolds like a dream a polyphonic network in which almost a dozen Mozartian motifs are hidden.

Klemens Vereno, born in Salzburg in 1957;

Studies at the Mozarteum University: composition (Cesar Bresgen) and conducting (plus violin and singing); further studies in composition with Rudolf Kelterborn (Basel Music Academy); Since 1978 teaching (harmony and counterpoint, instrumentation, figured bass etc.) at the Mozarteum University, 1978-85 at the Bruckner Conservatory in Linz and 2000-08 at the Richard Strauss Conservatory in Munich; since 2008 also lecturer at the International Summer Academy Mozarteum.

Commitment and numerous initiatives for contemporary music in Salzburg.

Performances of his works by the Basler Madrigalisten, Camerata Salzburg, Salzburg Bach Choir, Ensemble "die reihe", International Bach Festival, Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg, oenm (Austrian ensemble for new music), ORF (Austrian Broadcasting), Vokalquintett Berlin and others.