The highlight of the Vienna Youth Philharmonic's 2025 concert year is the opening of the Mahler Music Weeks in Dobbiaco with Gustav Maher's monumental 3rd Symphony. This is the third time the Junge Philharmonie has performed at the Toblach cultural center. The 3rd Symphony is one of Mahler's longest and most complex works. While the first three movements focus on nature, the fourth uses Nietzsche's "O man! Take heed!" to reflect on the mysteries of life. In contrast, the fifth movement radiates brightness and joy. The Junge Philharmonie Wien brings together talented musicians aged between 17 and 27. Conducted by Michael Lessky, it performs nationally and internationally. Mezzo-soprano Marlen Bieber has been a soloist at Chemnitz Opera since 2020/21. The Wilten Boys' Choir from Innsbruck perform alongside the Vienna State Opera Chorus Academy.
"The Junge Philharmonie already has something of a Mahler tradition," explains conductor and Artistic Director Michael Lessky. "In 2024, we played the "Farewell" from the "Lied von der Erde" at the Schönberg Center, two years before that 3 movements from the 10th Symphony, in 2022 Mahler's 2nd at the Musikverein, and Symphonies 4 and 5 are also available on CD in live recordings," Lessky continues. After the Bressanone Festival 2022 with Mahler's 2nd, the opening festival of the Salzburg Festival 2021, the South Tyrol Festival 2019 with Bruckner's 7th and the Ravello Festival 2015 with Schubert's 9th, this is the next prestigious engagement where the orchestra is invited to perform a symphonic program.
The promotion of young singers has always been important to Michael Lessky: the women's choir in Toblach is provided by the Vienna State Opera's choral academy and the soloist is the young German contralto Marlen Bieber, who is currently engaged in Chemnitz and has already impressed the audience in "Abschied".
"Dobbiaco has always been a special place for me, where you can feel Mahler's spirit in his symphonies undisguised. And its impressions of nature are an essential part of the thematic background of his music - especially the 3rd, which was, however, composed at Lake Attersee. I would also like to express my sincere thanks to Josef Lanz, the artistic director, who has always encouraged young people. Over 100 musicians have already been able to establish themselves in professional orchestras, 15 of them in the Vienna Philharmonic alone, with whom I have had a special relationship since the founding of the Junge Philharmonie. I also owe a lot to Claudio Abbado, whose pioneering spirit, openness and empathy for dealing with young people has impressed and shaped me."
July 12, 2025, Dobbiaco, Gustav Mahler Hall
Marlen Bieber © Anna Werner
