Linz Europa Tour 2007-2009 – The On-Stage Debriefing
Home again - Hubert von Goisern chats with Martin Heller
September 3, 2007, 6.30 p.m., Lentos Museum of Art
The musician’s on-stage interlocutor was Linz09 Artistic Director Martin Heller. There was a good turnout: 250 guests convened in the Auditorium of the Lentos Museum of Art to hear his account. But before he launched into it, the audience got to experience a premiere: an uplifting short film about the Linz Europa Tour that will be screened as a trailer for a production that the ORF – Austrian Broadcasting Company plans to air in spring 2008.
The Summation
Hubert von Goisern told of the slowness of going by ship, an experience that puts the traveler into a rhythm all its own. Of a storm that almost scuttled the whole tour. Of a concert that had to be relocated on short notice from the quay in front of an expensive hotel to a public beach. And of the frequent interpersonal encounters that transcended the boundaries separating countries, languages and musical genres.
Of Stumbling Blocks and Borderline Experiences
Hubert von Goisern didn’t omit the downers: skepticism, a lack of local support and musicians who didn’t quite get what this project is all about. At times, it seemed as if he were reliving the journey in retrospect, and the audience in the Lentos Auditorium thanked him with smiles and spontaneous applause. He departed from Linz two and a half months ago as the Capital of Culture’s roving ambassador and he returned with a message too: “Have no fear!” What he hopes to accomplish with this journey is to contribute to people “developing a feeling for how big and how colorful and how unique this Europe is.”
