OUT NOW | The Vienna Philharmonic’s Summer Night Concert 2022 

Released on Sony Classical, this recording features conductor Andris Nelsons with cellist Gautier Capuçon as soloist

Sony Classical has released their Summer Night Concert 2022 with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra (VPO) on CD, DVD, Blu-ray, and digitally. This concert is part of the record label’s Summer Night Concert series with VPO that has been held since 2008 as an annual open-air event. 

Performed in Austria on June 16, 2022, with UNESCO World Heritage site Schönbrunn Palace and Gardens in the background, this year’s concert was based around the theme “Musical Heritage of Europe.” It included two premieres — Latvian composer Arturs Maskats’ Tango for Symphony Orchestra and the Farewell Waltz by Ukrainian composer Mykola Lysenko. 

Led by Latvian conductor Andris Nelsons, the concert program and encores also included Beethoven’s “Leonore” Overture No. 3, Enescu’s Romanian Rhapsody No. 1, Smetana’s “The Bartered Bride” Overture, Dvorák’s “Slavonic Dance” in E minor, Strauss Jr.’s “Viennese Blood” Waltz, Rossini’s “The Thieving Magpie” Overture, plus Saint-Saëns’ Cello Concerto No.1 and Myroslav Skoryk’s “Melody” version for cello and orchestra, featuring French cellist Gautier Capuçon, who made his Summer Night Concert debut.

This year was the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic that the Summer Night Concert was able to take place with a full audience. The concert was also broadcast to millions of viewers and listeners in over 80 countries on TV, radio, and online.

Previous conductors of the event have included Georges Prêtre, Daniel Barenboim, Franz Welser-Möst, Lorin Maazel, Christoph Eschenbach, Zubin Mehta, Semyon Bychkov, Gustavo Dudamel, and Daniel Harding.

To listen to and purchase the recording, click here.

Capuçon is currently Artist-in-Residence at the Paris Philharmonie and Wiener Konzerthaus. He has appeared with the Vienna, Munich, and New York philharmonic orchestras, as well as the Concertgebouworkest and Cleveland Orchestra with conductors including Myung-whun Chung and Michael Tilson Thomas.

A GRAMMY Award-winning conductor, Nelsons first worked with VPO in 2010 and since then has regularly guest-conducted their subscription concerts, as well as tours of Asia, Europe, and the U.S. He also serves as music director of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra. 

The VPO was established in 1842 by German conductor Otto Nicolai. With more than 40 concerts a year and 50 concerts on tour, the VPO is housed at the Wiener Musikverein concert hall and since 1922, has performed annually at the Salzburg Festival.