Hoch Kultur festival brings unusual music to alpine meadow

The Hoch Kultur Festival continued on Thursday and Friday at the Unterstalleralm alpine meadow in Innervillgraten, eastern Tyrol, combining unconventional performances with mountain scenery, ORF reported. The festival was opened on Wednesday in a circus tent with Thomas Bernhard’s “Holzfällen”, read by Burgtheater actor Nicholas Ofczarek before 1,300 people.

The festival, first organised in 2023 by the East Tyrolean Musicbanda Franui, has retained its distinctive atmosphere on its return. Its second venue lies at 1,673 metres above sea level, where concerts take place on a steep alpine meadow with mountain peaks and forests as a backdrop.

The musical accompaniment includes flowing water and cowbells, as well as the occasional sound of a nearby excavator or a motorcycle passing by. Swiss accordionist Viviane Chassot described the setting as a stage design that could not be found anywhere else in the world.

Visitors in colourful hiking and outdoor clothing, many of them arriving by bicycle or electric bike, listened to the performances from the grass. During breaks, food such as Kaspressknödel dumplings, millet patties and Geigenseer Hochkultur beer brought visitors into conversation, including a Vienna astrophysicist and couples from North Tyrol.

Climate change visible from the meadow

From the audience’s resting places, the view now includes not only alpine meadows, mountain peaks and forests but also cleared slopes affected by bark beetles and wind damage. Climate change is causing serious damage in eastern Tyrol, even though the meadows remain deep green after a long dry period.

Cloud cover and the sun disappearing behind the high mountains early in the day kept temperatures manageable, while thunderstorms largely stayed away. As a result, the expensive bad-weather tent was used only on the opening night. For Saturday, the final festival day, organisers moved the programme forward by one hour to 2 p.m. as a precaution.

Unusual musical combinations

Franui, whose artistic approach centres on shifting contexts between classical music, jazz, literature and song, has also created an unusual programme. The soprano Christiane Karg performed songs by Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss with the ensemble, including lines from “Das Lied von der Erde” that appeared to float above the surrounding mountains.

Franui leader Andreas Schett said in an interview with the Austrian Press Agency that the ensemble planned to explore Strauss further under the motto “More Garmisch, less Walhalla!” He suggested that the composer’s “Alpine Symphony” might be performed at the festival’s third edition in 2028.

On Thursday, the international Simply Quartet, whose musicians come from China, Austria and Norway, performed works by Hugo Wolf, Bedřich Smetana, Dmitri Shostakovich and Joseph Haydn. The quartet was joined by Budapest-based cimbalom virtuoso Áron Horváth, who tours European concert halls as a “Rising Star”.

On Friday, pianist and improviser Johanna Summer performed with techno band Elektro Guzzi. Their contrasting approaches created a meditative atmosphere that sent the audience’s thoughts drifting into the distance with the clouds.

Words and humour also formed part of the programme. Bryan Benner and The Erlkings performed Schubert songs in English, from “Das Wandern ist des Müllers Lust” to “Die Forelle”, with the audience providing yodel accompaniment. Chassot combined the songs with works by Bach and Satie, as well as a Breton folk song.