“KulturMontag” on March 15th: Hangover mood in Austria’s cultural scene, openings in the Ländle, new Queen biography for the 95s
Also: Obituary for Peter Patzak and a new edition of the ORF concert series “Wechselspiele in St. Corona” with the duo BartolomeyBittmann
Vienna (OTS) – After an obituary for the Austrian director Peter Patzak (all details on the ORF program change on presse.ORF.at), “KulturMontag” on March 15, 2021 at 10.30 p.m. on ORF 2 will deal with the situation of the culture industry in the Pandemic and this time takes a special look at the situation in Austria’s municipalities. To this end, the magazine takes a look around Carinthia and Upper Austria, but also addresses Vorarlberg’s pioneering role as a model region for earlier easing. The Vorarlberg writer Michael Köhlmeier is a live guest in Clarissa Stadler’s studio. The program also introduces a new biography of Queen Elizabeth, which will be published on the monarch’s 95th birthday. Following the magazine, a new edition of the concert talk series “Wechselspiele” is on the program, this time with “BartolomeyBittmann in St. Corona” (11:25 pm).
Hangover mood in the cultural scene
Around 350 cultural institutions and 1,500 artists from all parts of Austria are calling for a cultural summit to combat the Corona crisis in a letter of protest to the federal government. Yvonne Gimpel, head of IG Kultur Austria, locates an unacceptable inequality of treatment, as there was a gastro summit, as well as one for sport. There was no exchange between the top government and the cultural sector. State Secretary Andrea Mayer has announced a new aid package of 20 million euros including an extension of the lockdown bonus until April, but there is a hangover mood in the scene. In view of the increasing number of infections, it is not very realistic whether the next opening steps, which are expected in April at the earliest, will hold. In Vienna, the “Dialogue of Creativity” platform is calling for an artistic protest action at the end of March. Is there a threat of a major exodus despite the sophisticated prevention concepts? “KulturMontag” looked at the situation in Austria’s municipalities using the example of the Carinthian municipality of Bleiburg and the small town of Gallneukirchen in Upper Austria. Art and culture play an essential role in both places. How do the choir members, the initiators of the sound festivals, the theater troupes and exhibition organizers live? And how are the many service providers whose fate is directly related to the cultural organizers?
First cultural openings in the Ländle – live guest Michael Köhlmeier
Light in sight, at least at the end of the Arlberg tunnel in the westernmost state, where opening steps in the cultural sector are planned from next week. But euphoria didn’t really want to arise after months of darkness in Vorarlberg, although not only organizers, cultural institutions and above all the public long for the enjoyment of art. At best, it is an approach, a cautious pilot project for a culture of caution in the pandemic. Because no more than 100 people are allowed to attend an event and at 8 p.m. the enjoyment is over.
What is wrong with people when they cannot go to the theater, to the concert, or to experience stories on the big and small stages? How important is it for people to talk about what they have experienced? What happens to a society without music, without art, without culture? Clarissa Stadler philosophizes about this live in the studio with the Vorarlberg writer Michael Köhlmeier.
New biography for the Queen’s 95s
There are many queens, but only one queen: Elizabeth II turns 95 on April 21st. A new biography paints an almost intimate portrait of the monarch who ascended the throne at the age of 25. That makes her the longest reigning queen in British history. She has long since celebrated her diamond jubilee and weathered a series of crises with iron discipline. The Queen devotes her life entirely to the service of the Crown, even if she is “not amused” at times. A journey through her biography is always a journey through the eventful past century until today. Elizabeth II revealed little about her private life to the public during her long reign. But photographers – from Marcus Adams to Cecil Beaton to Annie Leibovitz – have always managed to find access to her. In a new biography, Paola Calvetti uses the famous photos to approach the moving and moving life of the Queen, sketching a little-known picture of the regent.
Premiere “Interchanges: BartolomeyBittmann in St. Corona” (11.25 p.m.)
The Corona concert format “Wechselspiele in St. Corona” is entering the next round: This time the artist duo BartolomeyBittmann accepted the ORF’s invitation to an exclusive musical concert talk in St. Corona am Wechsel. The charismatic musicians presented a selection of well-known numbers and new compositions. ORF culture presenter Teresa Vogl acts on behalf of the live audience and gets into conversation with the artists from time to time.
In 2012 the Viennese cellist Matthias Bartolomey and the Graz violinist and mandola player Klemens Bittmann founded the duo BartolomeyBittmann. Since then they have been mixing up the classical world under the motto “Progressive Strings” and constantly expanding its sometimes rather narrow limits. The two come from the classical music tradition or from jazz and have developed their very own style in the course of their collaboration, which is as touching as it is enchanting. Her piece of music “Les Pauli” – a declaration of love to her hometown filmed in 281 locations in Vienna – made waves on social media and will also be heard in St. Corona.
The duo only presents what they have composed themselves. In the interaction of violin and violoncello, paired with the spontaneity and improvisation of jazz aesthetics, grooves of monumental force and rhythms arise that drive your legs. It is no less virtuoso when Klemens Bittmann replaces the violin with the mandola – a mixture that literally tears the audience off their stools.
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