Bavarian Summer Festivals Part 2: Ingolstadt

Ingolstadt, a central Bavarian city on the Danube was settled around 800, with plenty of medieval flavor left. These days, it is also known as the headquarters of Audi, and roughly one third of the town’s residents work for the large automobile manufacturer






The YO arrives early for an acoustic rehearsal and a few even test the acoustic effects of the nearby Danube River park.







The Youth Orchestra concert is presented as part of the Audi Summer Concert Series. The crowd is, again, a wonderfully young one, with many children and families in attendance this Sunday evening. Special discounted tickets were made available to Ingolstadt’s schoolchildren and once word spread among the schoolchildren, the concert quickly sold out the Theater Ingolstadt, with a capacity of 1200.



The youth of Ingolstadt is keenly interested in seeing what their counterparts from San Francisco have in store. This young crowd looks remarkably like a San Francisco Symphony Music for Families concert, with many children and young people, perhaps getting their first taste of classical music.



The youthful musicians from Bay Area did not disappoint their German counterparts, who cheered wildly, at an almost deafening volume, as the YO delivered another solid performance and three encores. Another 1200 now fans of classical music, and surely fans of the SFSYO !



A review in the July 8 Donaukurier summed up this successful evening with high praise:

“This American Orchestra plays at a dizzyingly high level, one that, most likely, cannot be matched by another Youth Orchestra anywhere.”

Bravo YO !

At home in the land of Wolfie...

With Munich as the San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra’s home base and a non-concert day on the schedule, what better to do with a group of 104 young musicians than to visit the nearby musical mecca, Salzburg, for the day.



Scenic Salzburg, on the banks of the Salzach river, sits at the northern boundary of the Alps. The Altstadt, or "old town", is dominated by its baroque towers and churches and the massive hilltop fortress built in 1077. The first settlements at Salzburg, which means Salt Castle, date back to the Neolithic Age, and merged into one city by the Romans in 15 BC.





Above all, Salzburg is the city of Mozart. Perhaps the most enduringly popular of all composers, Mozart was born and raised in Salzburg in the late 18th century. Mozart's father Leopold Mozart was a violinist in the court orchestra of the Archbishop of Salzburg, for whom Mozart also worked for over a decade. There are many monuments to the beloved “Wolferl” throughout Salzburg. Mozart's presence is everywhere: Mozart chocolates line the store windows, Mozart t-shirts, and Mozart look-alikes roaming the streets, but above all, Mozart’s music is heard throughout the picturesque streets and alley ways. The YO members visit the Mozarthaus, where they get a firsthand look at where the composer was born and raised.






The Youth Orchestra musicians also visit the famous Festspielhaus, the Festival Halls where the renowned Salzburger Festspiele (Salzburg Festival) where performances are held each summer. They visit the main concert hall as well as the very unique and scenic indoor/outdoor venue carved into the rocky hillside, known as the Felsenreitschule.





Many who have never been to Salzburg know this hall from a scene in the Sound of Music, as the von Trapp family singers performed on this stage in 1936 (think Capt. Von Trapp getting choked up singing Edelweiss). While the Sound of Music isn’t quite Don Giovanni, YO members nonetheless are singing Do-Re-Mi under their breaths as they make their way around the grounds.





After a magical day in the city of Mozart, the Orchestra heads back to Munich for its final two concerts in Bavaria before heading on to Prague.