Linz Europa Tour West - Hubert von Goisern, goodwill ambassador of Linz 2009 European Capital of Culture
PRESS CONFERENCE
Tuesday, 8th April 2008, 9:30 a.m.
Lentos Restaurant-Cafe-Bar
Ernst-Koref-Promenade 1, 4020 Linz
Speakers:
Hubert von Goisern, musician
Barbara Fränzen, director of programming, ORF – Austrian Broadcasting Company
Martin Heller, artistic director, Linz09
ORF Film Presentation: Linz Europa Tour East 2007
Hubert von Goisern, Austria's star musician and goodwill ambassador for Linz 2009 European Capital of Culture, is readying the next leg of the Linz Europa Tour 2007–2009, a waterborne journey clear across Europe. Following a successful eastbound trip on the Danube in the summer of 2007, his shipboard stage will now be sailing up the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal to Rotterdam.
More than 12,000 kilometers will be covered by Hubert von Goisern’s flotilla on the Linz Europa Tour 2007–2009. His two excursions as goodwill ambassador for Linz 2009 European Capital of Culture are in the process of spanning the continent. On the tour’s two legs, the musicians, staff and crew spend several months cruising Europe’s great rivers and playing great music at venues along the way.
The tugboat, MS Wallsee, and a barge supplied by Brandner Shipping have been custom converted into a floating concert stage and outfitted with a sound system suitable for audiences of up to 5,000. The ship also provides accommodations for a total of 50 persons: artists, the technical crew and the project staff. The tug & barge flotilla is 140 meters long.
In conjunction with the Linz Europa Tour 2007–2009, the MS Wallsee is serving as a sort of musical and social laboratory. The centerpiece of this very different sort of concert tour is the idea of musical encounters—manifested most clearly in the concert program that Hubert von Goisern is presenting at more than 50 riverside venues. This journey will let audiences hear, experience and feel the diversity of European culture, the qualities that make it so special, and its rich regional variations.
Hubert von Goisern headed east to the Black Sea on the first installment of the Linz Europa Tour in 2007—from Regensburg, Germany to Rumania’s Danube Delta and into the Ukraine. He got enthusiastic receptions and rave reviews from about 80,000 concertgoers at stops along the Danube in Austria and Germany, and at free concerts in Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Rumania, Slovakia and the Ukraine.
“It took a lot of energy and a lot of time, but it was worth it. We succeeded in building new bridges, touching people with the music, and getting to know one another a little bit better,” Hubert von Goisern said.
In 2008, he’ll be westbound on the Rhine-Main-Danube Canal. Destination: Rotterdam. The tour kicks off on June 27, and will include about 30 concerts (see 2008 Tour Dates) and many fascinating musical encounters. Among those who’ll be joining Hubert von Goisern on stage is Konstantin Wecker, whose recently released live album entitled “Zugabe” (Encore!) impressively documents his extraordinary stage presence. Another top act highlighting the Linz Europa Tour is the BAP band featuring front man Wolfgang Niedecken; they’ll be doing cuts from their album “Radio Pandora” scheduled for release in May 2008. And the great Xavier Naidoo will be coming on board for a joint performance.
Hubert von Goisern will also be bringing musical experiences from the 2007 tour to his upcoming engagements this summer. Some of the fascinating musical exchanges that took place during he first eastbound leg of the Linz Europa Tour 2007–2009 will be revived on stage in a film entitled “Rückblenden” (Flashbacks). Plus, some of the best acts that Hubert von Goisern got to work with last summer in Eastern Europe will be making special guest appearances this year—the lineup includes Karandila, Zdob Si Zdub and Rambo Amadeus. And thus, piece by piece like a colorful mosaic, a bigger picture begins to emerge over the course of this unique project: The Sound of Europe.
The Linz Europa Tour 2007–2009 is thus a many-voiced harbinger of Linz 2009 European Capital of Culture, one that will also be accompanied by an extensive program of side events and promotional activities spotlighting Linz 2009 European Capital of Culture.
The grand finale comes at a big harbor festival in 2009. “Back Home in Linz” will reunite all the artists that Hubert von Goisern encountered during his riverside sojourns. Linz09 artistic director Martin Heller had this to say about the tour’s culmination: “Here, many voices will join together to encapsulate what’s been going on. And they’ll do so right in the middle of the Capital of Culture year whose mission is to enable us to live out and experience what Europe means. The Linz Europa Tour is doing a wonderful job helping to accomplish just that.”
Film Presentation: The Linz Europa Tour on ORF-TV
Impressions of Hubert von Goisern’s musical journey of adventure during the course of the Linz Europa Tour East 2007 were captured on film by the ORF – Austrian Broadcasting Company. Shooting was done in nine countries. The film crew included two directors: Markus Wogrolly accompanied events and daily life on board the ship while Robert Lakatos focused on the artists themselves and their milieus in the respective host countries.
The first of five episodes documenting the tour to the Black Sea will be broadcast in 2008 as a co-production of NGF Nikolaus Geyrhalter Film and the ORF. Two additional episodes covering the tour’s westbound leg during the summer of 2008 will be aired next spring. Thus, a total of seven 30-minute installments will document the whole Linz Europa Tour 2007–2009.
Hubert von Goisern
Hubert von Goisern was born in 1952 in Bad Goisern in the Province of Upper Austria. Considered the founder of Alpine Rock, he’s been German-speaking Europe’s most successful artist in this pop cultural-musical genre for over 15 years. His projects, ideas and musical encounters have one overarching theme: real cultural exchange lived out in real life. During the course of numerous international tours and collaborative work with Tibetan, African and Arabic musicians, Hubert von Goisern has repeatedly proved that he’s willing and able to engage in a genuine process of creative exchange with his musical associates. He finds music all around the globe, and sums up what he does in these terms: “We all live in the same world. Above us is the same sky—just a different portion of it.”
Press contact for the Linz Europa Tour project
Astrid Bader, BSX – Bader & Schmölzer GmbH, Tel +43 / (0)1 / 524 05 42 - 13, Mobil +43 / (0)699 / 14 200 343, Fax +43 / (0)1 / 524 05 42 – 30, E-mail astrid.bader@bsx.at>
Download:
Linz Europa Tour - ORFLinz Europa Tour - Tour dates 2008
