Buchbinder ends 20-year Grafenegg tenure with Mozart concerts

The Grafenegg Festival in the Krems district ended on Sunday with two piano concertos by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, ORF reported. The performance marked pianist Rudolf Buchbinder’s final appearance as the festival’s artistic director after 20 years.

Buchbinder performed with the Orchestra Giovanile Luigi Cherubini. He will remain associated with Grafenegg as the festival’s president. Culture manager Johannes Neubert will succeed him as artistic director on October 1.

“The enthusiasm of our audience, the many exceptional artists and the unique atmosphere of this place made this time unforgettable,” Buchbinder said, according to the regional press service. Lower Austria Governor Johanna Mikl-Leitner praised him for bringing leading artists to Grafenegg and promoting the festival internationally.

The 2026 summer season featured 31 concerts: 23 as part of the 20th Grafenegg Festival and eight in the Summer Sounds concert series. About 48,000 visitors attended. ORF recorded several concerts for broadcast on radio and television.

International orchestras performed at the festival

Highlights included the Midsummer Night Gala in June, featuring soprano Angel Blue, tenor Bogdan Volkov, cellist Julia Hagen and the Tonkunstler Orchestra of Lower Austria under chief conductor Fabien Gabel.

The festival opened on August 14 with Beethoven’s “Choral Fantasy” and Orff’s “Carmina Burana”, performed by the Philharmonia Orchestra London under conductor Cristian Măcelaru. Other international orchestras hosted during the summer included the Danish National Symphony Orchestra, the Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra and the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra.

The 2027 festival will be the first under Neubert’s artistic leadership. The programme is due to be announced on November 4, 2026. US composer Steve Reich will be composer in residence, and the festival plans to expand its chamber concert series in the new Rudolf Buchbinder Hall.