Classical music, Styriarte festival
The capital of Styria, Graz, stands out without any doubt as the cultural centre of the region with its Opera House, the Theatre and its numerous concert halls, presenting various spectacles during the year. Musicians such as the composer Johann Joseph Fux or, later on, Robert Stolz and Karl Böhm worked there. Nowadays, musicians from all over the world continue building upon this tradition with the ”Styriarte” Festival. The “Styriarte” Festival, dedicated since 1985 to the presentation of classical music, was originally founded to forge closer ties between the world-known for his artistic endeavours pioneering conductor Nikolaus Harnoncourt and his home town Graz. Today, the Festival encourages a rediscovery of long-lost variations of our musical heritage and mirrors today’s wealth of exciting approaches to Early Music and music between the Middle Ages and Romanticism. One of the distinctive features of the Festival are the gorgeous settings, where the concerts take place.
“steirischer herbst” – “Styrian Automn” Since 1968 “steirischer herbst”, an avant-garde festival, is an individual platform for various exhibitions and performances of experimental Art every year: Theatre, Dance, Visual Arts, Architecture, Music, Literature etc. As a festival, “steirischer herbst” is special in many respects as it incorporates many voices, promotes the communication between the various disciplines of art and networks both international and regional artists. The theme of 2008 “steirischer herbst” was “Strategies for avoiding misfortune”. Exhibitions
Large Regional Exhibitions have been presented in Styria annual or biannual since 1959.
Folklore
The regional folk culture is very prominent in Styria, with its traditional costume groups and choral societies, as well as the local customs with various events taking place during the year where everyone is welcome such as “Perchten” at the end of winter to drive out the bad spirits, “Narzissenfest” when thousands of splendourful flowers are bound together, or “Erntedankfeste” where Apple- and Wine-Queens are elected amongst young girls. Museums
Austria’s oldest and second-largest museum “Landesmuseum Joanneum” is hosted in 20 departments and institutions spread in the city of Graz, the regional capital of Styria. It was founded in 1811 by Archduke Johann, who committed it to presenting a comprehensive picture of the historical development of the nature and culture, of the country and its people. Comprising valuable and extensive collections with a main emphasis laid on Styrian wildlife, culture and arts, its rich collections are complemented by permanent special exhibitions. There are currently four departments situated in Graz an in other regions:
Nature (Botany, Geology& Paleontology, Mineralogy, Zoology)
History of Art and Culture (Image& Sound Archive, Cultural-Historical Collection, Künstlerhaus, Neue Gallerie, Austrian Sculpture Park)
Schloss Eggenberg (Alte Gallerie, Archaeology, Collection of Coins, Schloss Eggenberg)
Folk Life and Folk Art (Hunting, Agricultural Collection, Schloss Trautenfels, Folk Life& Folk Art)
Part of the management are also “Landeszeughaus Graz”, the regional Armoury, and “Kunsthaus Graz”, a museum for modern and contemporary art. Landeszeughaus Graz, erected between 1642 and 1645, is one of the best-preserved armories of the world. It houses the world’s largest collection of armour, helmets, edged weapons, guns and pistols accumulated over the ages. Apart from their history, the artefacts have one thing in common – visitors are not allowed to touch them, to move or turn them.
As to the Kunsthaus, it was built on the occasion of the European Cultural Capital 2003 activities as gift of the City Graz for itself for the future. The designers of this project, the London architects Peter Cook and Colin Fournier, created an impressive synthesis which unites their innovative design language with the historic setting of this urban district along the Mur. Its modern biomorphic structure offers an aesthetic dialogue and produces an artistic tension between tradition and avant-garde and soon the Kunsthaus acquired the reputation of being the second “new” landmark of the city of Graz along with the old clock tower on the Castle Hill (Schlossberg). The Kunsthaus functions as a multi-disciplinary venue for exhibitions, events and other means of presenting contemporary art, new media, and photography. While the building’s interior is meant to inspire its curators as black box of hidden tricks (Colin Fournier), its outer skin is a media façade which can be changed electronically. A wide cultural offer such as museums, churches etc is to be found in the other regions of Styria too (e.g Austrian Open Air Museum in Stübling near Graz) Architecture
Graz School of Architecture at the Graz Technical University has a long lasting tradition of modern architecture. Furthermore in Graz there was the House of Architecture founded in 1988 as the first of its kind in Austria and thus being a forerunner for establishments of similar institutions in Europe. The spectrum of the activities of the House of Architecture Graz covers exhibitions, lectures, Workshops, competition presentations, architecture switching and organization cared for by excursion ions just like its own publishing house the one variety of internationally refugee architecture publications and gives change.
Many outstanding monuments and buildings show historical examples of architecture. The “Landhaus” in Graz, built in 17th century by the Italian architect Domenico D’Allio as well as numerous medieval castles - so in South Eastern Styria, one can drive down the "Road of Castles," where, among others, the Riegersburg and Herberstein Castle and many other architectural masterpieces are to marvel at. |