The Vienna Symphony Orchestra To World Premiere

FRANK WILDHORN’s “Danube Symphony” 
At the Wiener Musikverein - 3 November

Wildhorn’s “Jekyll & Hyde” & “Dracula” Suites  also To Be Debuted

The Vienna Symphony Orchestra will World Premiere Frank Wildhorn’s “Danube Symphony”/”Donau Symphonie'' on 3 November 2022 at the famed Wiener Musikverein in Vienna with special suites from Wildhorn’s Broadway classics, Jekyll & Hyde and Dracula also making their symphonic debuts. Wildhorn is the Tony, Grammy and Emmy Award nominated Composer of Whitney Houston’s number-one-hit “Where Do Broken Hearts Go” and became the first American composer in twenty-two years to have three shows running simultaneously on Broadway with Jekyll & Hyde, The Scarlet Pimpernel and The Civil War. With this debut, Wildhorn joins the rare company of American composers Leonard Bernstein and George Gershwin who have had their work admitted into the repertoire of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. 

The evening’s programme, conducted by Koen Schoots and performed by the Vienna Symphony Orchestra (Wiener Symphoniker) is comprised of a completely new slate of music, including: the “Jekyll & Hyde” suite (Arranged and Orchestrated by Kim Scharnberg) and the “Dracula” suite (Arranged and Orchestrated by Koen Schoots) followed by The “Danube Symphony”/“Donau Symphonie” (Arranged and Orchestrated by Kim Scharnberg), all Composed by Frank Wildhorn. 

First, came the  CD production of the Composer’s first Symphony– capturing the composition with an extraordinarily large cast of 96 members of the Vienna Symphony, recorded by MG-SOUND STUDIOS at the Viennese Konzerthaus in 2021, produced by HitSquad Records. Now, in 2022, the _same sixty minutes that make up the recording are celebrated with what will be a first climax in the composition’s history: its world premiere at the historical Wiener Musikverein. Both are with the vision and support of Walter Feucht – entrepreneur and musical-enthusiast – in whom Frank Wildhorn has not only found a friend, but also a mentor. 

The palatial great hall of the Musikverein (Großer Musikvereinssaal) with its inimitable acoustics, famously hosts the Vienna Philharmonic’s annual New Year’s Concert (Neujahrskonzert), making it a household name among millions of music lovers. The concert’s second encore – traditionally Johann Strauß II’s “An der schönen blauen Donau” (The Blue Danube) – is similarly dedicated to Europe’s second largest river, further connecting Wildhorn’s “Donau Symphonie” with the historicity of its premiere’s location – while still filling it with entirely new sounds.

The symphony describes a delicately blossoming spring, or a waltzing Viennese summer, as well as heroic processions and a history of the Danube contorted by the changing of the seasons.  

The sixty minutes that comprise The “Donau Symphonie” are a vastly romantic declaration of love to the river and its history, reiterating the story of a stream of 1770 miles, which traverses Europe from West to East as a unifying force. It is an American interpretation of European immortality that takes up a water-locked musical tradition and transports it into the present.

In the conductor’s stand – congenially mediating Wildhorn’s vision between composition and orchestra is Koen Schoots, whose work on a variety of highly successful productions including the Komische Oper Berlin as well as his many years as musical director of the Vereinigten Bühnen in Vienna have left him well-known and regarded throughout Europe.  

“Frank Wildhorn has created beautiful, emotional music with lots of heart”, praises Anton Sorokow, concertmaster at The Vienna Symphony.