Great Performances: Vienna Philharmonic Summer Night Concert 2011

Led by guest conductor Valery Gergiev, the world-renowned Vienna Philharmonic presents an open-air concert in the gardens of Austria's Imperial Schonbrunn Palace. This year’s theme revolves around “Virtuoso Pictures,” as exemplified by the works of Franz Liszt, Niccolo Paganini, Modest Mussorgsky, and Johann Strauss.

The concert in the Schönbrunn Palace’s magnificent baroque gardens is free to thousands of attendees in Vienna, and serves the Orchestra’s objective of making classical music accessible to a broad spectrum of concertgoers beyond its usual, core audience.

Selections include Franz Liszt's "Les Préludes"; Nicolo Paganini's "Violin Concerto, D major, 1st Movement"; Modest Mussorgsky' "Pictures at an Exhibition"; and Johann Strauss II's "Wiener Blut" (Encore).

This is Gergiev’s second time leading the popular summer concert, and he’s part of a distinguished lineup that has included Bobby McFerrin, Zubin Mehta, Plácido Domingo, Georges Prêtres, Daniel Barenboim and Franz Welser-Möst.

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