In this edition of Club9 we talk with conductor and artistic director of Beethoven Plus Festival in Salzkammergut David Holzinger. We discuss the origins of the festival, its grounding fathers, connection with the musical history of the region, and why it is called ‚Beethoven Plus‘. David tells about this year’s program and its motto ‚Dialogues‚, his role as an artistic director, about the composers and musicians. We touch upon the issues of social engagement and political statements.

We talk about the locations of the concerts such as local churches in Altausee and Bad Aussee, Congress House in Bad Aussee, Community Center in Altausee (Veranstaltungszenturm Altausee), and Kölbl Hall in the Narzissen Holiday Village Grundlsee.

We speak about the significance of programming a group of female composers, such as Fanny Hensel- Mendelssohn, Nadia Boulanger, Emelie Mayer, and Florence Price. We mention the Ukranian-Polish Lyatoshynsky Trio performing Borys Lyatoshynsky‚s piano trio. We discuss how this year’s festival’s concept of dialogues works in the ‚Dialogue of styles‘ concert featuring Leonard Bernstein‚s Halil piece for flute and piano and Claude Bolling‚s Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano Trio, and how the flute is the main character in this concert. We talk about and listen to some pieces performed by Doris Orsan and Johannes Tonio Kreusch, a violine and guitar duo in the concert ‚Dialoge of cultures: from Piazzolla bis Granados‚. David also tells a story of the historical musical instruments of BartolomeyBittmann duo and we listen to some of their compositions.

We also talk about why Brahms‚s Ein Deutsches Requiem was chosen to be the closing piece of the festival and how the festival choir is put together.

As usual, our conversation is complimented by the music of the festival and performed by the musicians playing in the festival.

The program was aired live on Freies Radio Salzkammergut from its studio in Bad Ischl on the 16th of July, 2026.

Tracks played in the broadcast:

Matthias Barotolmey, Klemens Bittmann, BartolomeyBittmann. Les Tecchler

Ludwig van Beethoven, Trio Liberme. Klaviertrio c-Moll Op. 1, Nr.3: III. Menuetto. Quasi Allegro

Fanny Mendelssohn, Ana-Marija Markovina. H67 Übungsstück. Allegro molto C-Dur

Claude Bolling, Jean-Pierre Rampal, Max Hediguer, Marcel Sabiani. Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano Trio. Baroque and Blue, Pt. 1

Doris Orsan, Johannes Tonio Kreusch. La Cumparsita

Doris Orsan, Johannes Tonio Kreusch. Libertango

Matthias Barotolmey, Klemens Bittmann, BartolomeyBittmann. Süden