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ERÖFFNUNGSKONZERT 2027

Conductor: Asher Fisch

Orchestra of the Tiroler Festspiele Erl

“Bruckner’s works are not works at all, but a fraud that will be dead and forgotten in a year or two.” As is well known, Johannes Brahms was completely off the mark with this verdict. Anton Bruckner’s Fourth Symphony, the “Romantic,” is today one of the most popular works in the symphonic repertoire. Bruckner himself associated it with powerful images of nature, scenes that to some ears have a medieval feel, and a truly epic soundscape. The monumental crescendos, the sharply contoured wind sections, and the overwhelming terraced dynamics resonate even in the film music of our time and create an intense “mental movie.” We hear a different “film” with Benjamin Britten’s Four Sea Interludes, which bring the sea to life in all its facets through the orchestra’s dazzling colors. Asher Fisch is presenting these pieces for the first time in Erl, thereby continuing the expansion of Erl’s repertoire.

Benjamin Britten (1913-1976)
Four Sea lnterludes aus der Oper Peter Grimes
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Anton Bruckner (1824-1896)
Symphonie Nr. 4 Es-Dur „Romantische"

Team

Asher Fisch Conductor

Asher Fisch is Chief Conductor of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and has been Music Director of the Tiroler Festspiele in Erl since the beginning of the 2024/25 season. He is internationally recognized as one of the leading conductors and has an extensive repertoire that covers both opera and concert areas. He began his career as an assistant to Daniel Barenboim and as a conductor at the Berlin State Opera. Since then, he has conducted at major European opera houses, including Vienna, Milan, Munich, Paris and Madrid. As an acknowledged Wagner specialist, Fisch has recorded two complete "Ring" cycles as well as "Tristan und Isolde". In addition, he has intensively studied the Italian repertoire and recently released a Puccini album together with tenor Jonas Kaufmann, the new Artistic Director of the Tiroler Festspiele Erl.

As a concert conductor, Asher Fisch has led renowned US American and European orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Munich Philharmonic, the Orchestre National de France and the London Symphony Orchestra. Asher Fisch is also active as a pianist and can be experienced in piano concerts, with chamber music and as a song accompanist.

Orchestra of the Tiroler Festspiele Erl

The music springs from the enthusiasm of a motivated and exceptionally well-prepared ensemble that has grown together over the years. The Tyrolean Festival Erl Orchestra was first formed in the summer of 1999—and today, musicians from 20 nations play together. Already in its first year, the ensemble achieved unprecedented success, which would go on to bring international recognition to the Tyrolean Festival Erl. Top young talents, musicians from major international orchestras, chamber music specialists, and lecturers come together annually in summer and winter—and since 2017, also in fall and spring—as part of the Tyrolean Festival Erl. Under the direction of festival founder Gustav Kuhn, the orchestra garnered rave reviews from international critics and cemented its reputation as one of the world’s finest Wagner orchestras. With the start of Jonas Kaufmann’s tenure as artistic director in September 2024, Asher Fisch—a conductor in high demand internationally in both opera and concert settings—has taken over the helm of the orchestra.

In addition to Richard Wagner’s ten major music dramas and operas by Strauss, Mozart, Beethoven, Verdi, and Rossini, the orchestra’s repertoire includes Beethoven’s symphonies and many other key works from the concert repertoire spanning the Baroque and Romantic periods, as well as contemporary works and world premieres.