Yoel Gamzou at the Salzburg Festival

On 21 August, conductor Yoel Gamzou will make a guest appearance at the Salzburg Festival and present works by Strauss, Mendelssohn Bartholdy and Korngold, among others, as part of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra's Angelika Prokopp Summer Academy at the Mozarteum Foundation.

21 August 2025 Stiftung Mozarteum Salzburg, Salzburger Festspiele
Strauss: Metamorphosen
Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Concerto for violin and string orchestra in D minor
Korngold: Symphonic Serenade in B flat major, op. 39 (excerpts)
Yamen Saadi - Violin

Yoel Gamzou was already captivated by Korngold's music in his youth. "The first notes of his violin concerto gave me goose bumps, which I still have today. I lived in his former house in Vienna and conducted “Die Tote Stadt”. Korngold's music was once considered old-fashioned, but today it is a classic, timeless and contemporary. Korngold suffered from the divide between “serious” and “light music”. He fled to the USA and wrote film music that shaped the sound of Hollywood. Rejected in post-war Europe, he died misunderstood, but his influence can be heard everywhere today. His music continues to inspire millions."

The Angelika Prokopp Summer Academy has been bringing young musicians together with renowned musicians every year for over 15 years, including at the Salzburg Festival. The Summer Academy promotes the training of young orchestral talents and offers participants the opportunity to choose from various modules, giving them the chance to actually take part in stage music for opera productions by the Vienna Philharmonic during the Salzburg Festival.

"Over the past four years, one of the greatest privileges of my career has been working with the Vienna State Opera Orchestra, which consists of many members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, from whom I have learned a tremendous amount. Hardly any other experience has given me so many insights into my musical personality and helped me to grow as an artist. That it was the members of the orchestra and especially Mr. Tamas Varga, the principal cellist of the orchestra, who invited me to work with the budding musicians of the Prokopp Academy is a particularly great honour. I am especially looking forward to working with Yamen Saadi, the Philharmonic's first concertmaster, and with the talented young musicians the Philharmonic has selected for the Academy," says Gamzou.

This year, the orchestra, conducted by Yoel Gamzou and with the Vienna Philharmonic's concertmaster Yamen Saadi as soloist, will perform the following concerts in Austria in addition to the concert at the Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg on 21 August:

15 August 2025 Tamsweg, Musiksommer St. Leonhard
Works by Strauss, Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Korngold

16 August 2025 Eisenstadt, Schloss Esterházy 
Mendelssohn: Concerto for violin and string orchestra in D minor MWV O 3
Korngold: Symphonic Serenade for string orchestra in B flat major op. 39 (excerpts)
Haydn: Symphony in C major Hob. I:90
Janoska: Pannobis for bandoneon and orchestra
Webern: Langsamer Satz
Stricker: Balkan Dance, Abendrot

17 August 2025 Salzkammergut Festwochen Gmunden 
19 August 2025 Große Universitätsaula, Salzburger Festspiele
21 August 2025 Stiftung Mozarteum Salzburg, Salzburger Festspiele
Strauss: Metamorphosen
Mendelssohn Bartholdy: Concerto for violin and string orchestra in D minor
Korngold: Symphonic Serenade in B flat major, op. 39 (excerpts)
Yamen Saadi - Violin

Known for his connection to the works of Gustav Mahler, Yoel Gamzou moved to New York City at the age of 15 to further his musical education. In 2006, he founded the International Mahler Orchestra (IMO) and won the special prize at the Gustav Mahler Conducting Competition in Bamberg in 2007. In 2010, his completion of Mahler's unfinished 10th Symphony was premiered, later published by Schott Music and has since been performed worldwide. In addition to working with renowned orchestras such as the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Stuttgart Philharmonic, the Sinfonica di Milano and the Essen Philharmonic, Gamzou was General Music Director of the Bremen Theater until 2022 and has already made guest appearances at the Vienna and Hamburg State Operas. More information on yoelgamzou.com

The concert with the BBC Philharmonic under the direction of Yoel Gamzou can be listened to on BBC Radio 3 in Concert until 7 August.  The recording of the concert with Mahler's 9th Symphony was made in April 2025 at the Bridgewater Hall in Manchester