On May 25, the Military Music Festival will be held in Klagenfurt’s Wörthersee Stadium. There will be 700 musicians from the Austrian Armed Forces, numerous participants from civilian areas, international guests and several local music stars.
What would the armed forces be without their military music? On the one hand, we would be deprived of a decades-old tradition. On the other hand, we would also be deprived of (at least) one top event for the general public every year: After all, the Military Music Festival is hard to imagine without military music and should be a real highlight, especially this year. The organizers are expecting up to 15,000 visitors at the big concert evening on 25 May in Klagenfurt’s Wörthersee Stadium. Thanks to a free cooperation with the Austrian Armed Forces, ORF will broadcast the concert on television for hundreds of thousands of viewers, with all of the donations collected from the festival going to Light into Darkness. The days and weeks leading up to the big concert evening are already set to be busy: the preceding “Heer on Tour” events in Carinthia (including Hermagor, Wolfsberg, Klagenfurt and Villach), Styria (Graz, St. Michael, Fohnsdorf, …), Salzburg (Tamsweg) and East Tyrol (Lienz) will provide a musical foretaste of the military music festival. Before, in between and afterwards, the army will also be showcasing its skills and job prospects. For example, the fighter command and the air force will be presenting themselves, as well as the cyber defense. There will be ninja courses and other highlights and, as if all that wasn’t enough, a preparatory concert will also take place in Udine (Italy) and Ljubljana (Slovenia).
Colonel Bernhard Heher smiles. During a visit to Bundesheer Inside, the 60-year-old head of military music in the Austrian Armed Forces still remembers well how, in the early to mid-2010s – back then under a different departmental leadership – the army’s music was cut back. How the number of musicians per ensemble was drastically reduced and entire bands were cut. How the musical repertoire and the number of performances had to be significantly reduced. “Fortunately, that’s all water under the bridge, but when you think about it, it’s all the better that we’re able to plan such a mega event,” says Heher. And when he says “mega event”, he means it. https://militaeraktuell.at/im-gespraech-zefix-beim-heer/ Since the 1980s, the army’s military bands have been brought together once a year for a week of rehearsals – and as a highlight, they play a joint concert at the end. In the past, the performances often took place in front of a few hundred spectators on village sports fields, but for some years now the army bands have been looking for the big stages. In 2022, for example, the military music festival made a guest appearance on the lake stage in Mörbisch, 2019 in the TipsArena in Linzthe year before in the Salzburgarena, in 2017 in the Burgenlandhalle in Oberwart and this year on 25 May in Klagenfurt’s Wörthersee Stadium. As part of a partnership between the Austrian Armed Forces and the state of Carinthia, Defense Minister Klaudia Tanner, Carinthian Governor Peter Kaiser and Licht ins Dunkel President Kurt Nekula will act as hosts.
Admission starts at 5 p.m., followed two hours later by the introduction of the bands by presenters Sonja Kleindienst and Marco Ventre. This is followed by the march-in of all participating military bands – including one formation each from Italy, Slovenia and Oman in addition to the Austrian bands. In addition, some military musicians from Montenegro will perform as part of the Upper Austrian Military Music and many participants from civilian areas (for example torchbearers from local organizations, adult and children’s choirs, …) will contribute to the success of the event. For example, the Jakob Petelin Gallus mixed choir (Slovenian and German-speaking choir from Klagenfurt), the youth choir of the Gustav Mahler Music School in Klagenfurt and the school choir of the private St. Ursula Klagenfurt elementary school will also be taking part. https://militaeraktuell.at/fuehrungsunterstuetzungsschule-wlan-statt-feldkabel/ Colonel Heher comments: “This is of course a great thing for us, the participation of so many people and international guests enhances the entire event and it also shows the great interest in our military music festival.” Nevertheless, according to Heher, it is “naturally also a challenge” to bring so many military and civilian musicians together and integrate them into the event.
Back to the program: After the joint opening fanfare (composed by Carinthian military music chief Lieutenant Colonel Dietmar Pranter), the foreign bands introduce themselves. This is followed by the world premiere of “Mission Vorwärts”, the premiere of a musical “cross-over” work in various genres. There will also be some top-class special guests – Heldentenor Andreas Schager and chart-topper Chris Steger, for example, will be supporting the good cause and helping to raise as many donations as possible for Licht ins Dunkel at the event. https://militaeraktuell.at/angelobung-in-perchtoldsdorf/ Chris Steger currently has a particularly close relationship with the Austrian Armed Forces: the rising star of the Austrian music scene (his song “Zefix” was the song of the year in Austria in 2020) is currently completing his basic military service. “The military music festival is a mega hit for me – and a highlight of my time in the army,” says Chris Steger. “You can see that our army not only stands for security and assistance, but also has something left for culture and music.”
“At the military music festival, you can see that our army not only stands for security and aid, but also has something for culture and music.
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Hitparadenstürmer Chris Steger
“The event concludes with the Great Austrian Tattoo,” says Heher, who can hardly wait to finally get started with his musicians in the Klagenfurt stadium. “We are always on the road internationally with the military bands,” he says. “But we still rarely play on such a large scale. By collaborating with international military musicians and special guests, we also show how adaptable and versatile we are and what professional opportunities we can offer young men and women. At the end of the day, the festival is also a great promotional measure for us to attract personnel.”
