The postcard-perfect town of Grafenegg in Austria has just 3000 souls, so during the summer festival, the visiting orchestras from Boston, Berlin, Israel and elsewhere expand the population by about twenty percent. To put that in perspective, in London it would mean over one and a half million players trying to find a bed for the night. Where would they all sleep?Such a tiny rural place, hosting the world’s finest musicians, it says a lot for the culturally ravenous Austrians, and their deep-pocketed government, that the generously subsidized Grafenegg Festival has become one of the major musical events of the European calendar. Even though it is not even yet a decade old.It doesn’t do any harm that the concerts take place in and around the most fabulously Disneyesque castle in the country – a white confection of nineteenth-century towers and spires - which belongs to the Duke of Ratibor. I was there before the current state-of-the-art auditorium and futuristic open-air stage were built, but the castle and courtyards were magical even without them. Grafenegg is only forty minutes from Vienna, and worth any number of trips.This year the festival, which begins on August 14 and runs to September 6, contains some real goodies. The roster of international orchestras makes a roll-call of the world’s finest. Sir Simon Rattle and the Berlin Philharmonic end the festival with two concerts (September 5 and 6), with Rattle conducting (among other works) an intriguing fantasy-compilation piece of his own devising based on the symphonies of Haydn.Semyon Bychkov, a conductor of thrilling intelligence and passion, leads the Vienna Philharmonic in Brahms’s Symphony No 3 (September 3). On August 23 pianist Rudolph Buchbinder, the artistic director of the festival, is the soloist in Brahms’s Piano Concerto No 1, with Zubin Mehta and the Israel Philharmonic.Andris Nelsons conducts Mahler’s Symphony No 6 – a Himalayan work of monumental emotional peaks - with the Boston Symphony (August 27).There are some terrific soloists appearing too. Diana Damrau, arguably the finest lyric-coloratura soprano of the moment, sings Verdi arias with the European Youth Orchestra (August 29). Violinist Anne Sophie Mutter and her ensemble of young musicians play a work by her ex-husband André Previn, as well as concertos by Bach and Vivaldi (August 30).Newer works aren’t neglected. The composer-in-residence this year is the New York-based musician Matthias Pintscher whom one critic dubbed, rather wittily, ‘a radical conservative.’ He’s written a new fanfare to open the festival, and his concerto for two trumpets ‘Chute d’Etoiles’ is performed on August 30.And I haven’t even mentioned the superb Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, or the baroque superstar soprano Simone Kermes, or the tip-top Tonkünstler Orchestra... check out the website, and start planning your journey.The Grafenegg Festival runs August 14 to September 6. For information: www.grafenegg.com/en/programm-tickets
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