Three performance programme graduates, one idea: it was in 2023 that Manuel Egger, Magdalena Pramhaas, and Sabrina Reheis-Rainer joined forces to found the wienerwald festival [Vienna Woods Festival], a series of events that unite music with nature in unique concert formats at interesting locations.
Manuel Egger (horn), Magdalena Pramhaas (bassoon), and Sabrina Reheis-Rainer (clarinet) were all working on performance degrees at the mdw when a chamber music course brought them together for the first time. The three dedicated musicians went on to found an ensemble and give numerous public performances. It soon hit home just how challenging the search for engagements was, and they felt an urge to put together something of their own. “We wanted to be able to shape things more freely; that had always been a dream of ours, and we’ve now made it come true,” enthuses wienerwald festival co-founder Sabrina Reheis-Rainer. The concrete idea arose from Sabrina and Magdalena’s love of nature: “Sabrina lives along a city hiking trail in the 14th district. That led to the idea of entertaining hikers with high-quality chamber music,” explains Manuel Egger. The three mdw graduates then set about establishing a legally recognised association, gathering some initial ideas about how to realise their vision and investigating the feasibility of what they’d dreamed up in terms of suitable locations and artists.
You need an idea and the courage to try it out. Everything else is learning by doing.
Sabrina Reheis-Rainer
It was in September 2023 that the first wienerwald festival ultimately took place with four events, and it ended up being a total success. “I’ll never forget when one attendee of our kick-off event told us with tears in her eyes how much she’d enjoyed it. Receiving that kind of positive feedback from our audience was hugely encouraging for us,” recalls Sabrina Reheis-Rainer. Alongside the festival’s declared goal of harmoniously uniting nature and classical music, the former mdw students are also looking to support up-and-coming young artists and ensembles. “All three of us were once in the same situation, so enabling young artists to perform in public is something that’s important to us now, “ explains Magdalena Pramhaas, “and since we also take the stage ourselves, we have a sense of what fair fees look like.” As part of their efforts, the organisers have networked with their former place of training. “The mdw is a fantastic university with outstanding professors. All of us were happy studying here, and we’re now happy to provide performance opportunities to support young graduates—like the members of the woodwind quartet Windobona, which gave two concerts this year,” says Manuel Egger. Following the huge success of the festival’s first edition in 2023, this year has seen its programme expand by two additional events—thoroughly in keeping with the leading team’s intent: “We want to establish this festival and see it grow. The Vienna Woods are huge, and our ideas are at least as huge,” says Sabrina Reheis-Rainer with a laugh. Their 2024 programme thus included the event “Wanderkonzert Waldklänge” [Forest Sounds Hiking Concert] with sound stations and a guided hike offered in cooperation with the Austrian Federal Forests and the Vienna Woods Biosphere Reserve. “This concert was the one that best reflected our concept. Nature is near and dear to us, and we want make music only in those places where no animals will be disturbed,” Magdalena Pramhaas explains. With the programme “Silent Sky”, the organisers had originally intended to establish an entirely new format at the tree of life circle at the nature park Am Himmel. Unfortunately, the day’s weather failed to cooperate, so the young crossover pianist Levi Schechtmann played at the Ehrbar Saal instead. That evening’s relaxing conclusion then came in the form of sounds by the DJ and mdw alumnus Michael Stückler. “We want to expand our attendees’ horizons, appeal to people who are new to chamber music, and bring the classical audience together with contemporary music,” says Manuel Egger.
We give free tickets to institutions whose work we hold in high esteem like Frauenhäuser Wien, the Kulturbuddy project of Caritas, and this year’s new addition tralalobe, an association that works with juvenile refugees.
Magdalena Pramhaas
A further objective of the festival initiators is to enhance women’s visibility in classical music, even if this may pit them against unexpected challenges. “The share of women in the groups of artists we include is very important to us,” says Magdalena Pramhaas. “We’re especially intent on making sure that at least one woman is onstage in every event, and we were ourselves surprised at how much more difficult this sometimes made realising things.” The three mdw graduates now want to pay all the more attention to the heterogeneity of the programmed ensembles’ members. With colourful and innovative concert programming, the leading team seeks to introduce their artists to a broad public. Ticket prices are hence kept as low as possible, and free tickets are offered to those who are unable to pay for them. “We work together with institutions whose activities we value greatly such as the women’s refuge association Frauenhäuser Wien and the Caritas project Kulturbuddy. And they’ve been joined this year by the association ‘tralalobe’, which works together with juvenile refugees. We’re very intent on providing free tickets to every event, and the joy that this elicits is wonderful to behold.”
Our idea is fundamentally to introduce people to high-quality chamber music. But we also want to address nature-lovers and get them interested in music, too.
Manuel Egger
