Innsbrucker Hofmusik: the 2025 season

With spring comes the return of the "Innsbrucker Hofmusik" series of concerts in Innsbruck's Court Church. The series is in its third year and has quickly become a landmark in the world of early music in Innsbruck. Seven truly unique concert dates are scheduled for 2025.... for several reasons.

Innsbruck's Court Church is a must-see for its historical significance and artistic value. The church of „Schwarze Mander“ -as it is also called-is the mausoleum of Maximilian I of Habsburg, known for the 28 bronze Statues that stand vigil over the emperor's cenotaph; it also houses the tomb of Andreas Hofer. It is easy to see why it is a must-see stop for tourists visiting the Tyrol and, at the same time, is still a very important place for the Tyroleans.
With the review Innsbrucker Hofmusik, the church also regains its historic value as a place devoted to music. Marian Polin, artistic director of Innsbrucker Hofmusik and Franz Gratl, head of the music collection of the regional museums, which organize this review, write that in the course of their intensive work in preparing the concert seasons they have come to appreciate the court church in its entirety as a "great musical instrument," for its acoustic qualities and its world-famous Renaissance organs.

In the various musical projects of Innsbrucker Hofmusik the possibilities that the sound space of the church offers are exploited, looking for new and unexpected solutions. I can say from personal experience that - sitting in church to listen to a concert - one has the feeling of being enveloped by the music and sometimes one does not understand exactly where it is coming from. I prefer to choose a seat somewhat in the background and, from time to time, close my eyes. All your attention thus turns to the sound and you have the feeling of being immersed in a harmonious flow created by voices and musical instruments.

Concert programs are the result of intensive source research, and many works are re-performed for the first time in modern times. The Tyrolean regional museums, which organize the festival, boast a rich collection of historical instruments and scores that have a connection to the history of the Tyrol. This makes it possible to offer an unusual repertoire.
The 2025 season's repertoire takes us to such historic music venues as the imperial court in Vienna, the imperial cathedral in Frankfurt, the episcopal court in Passau, the Marienberg monastery, and Damenstift di Hall.
Unmissable concerts in 2025 are definitely the oratorio "La Maddalena pentita" by the composer of the year Alessandro Scarlatti, the reconstruction of a vesper from Monteverdi's "Selva morale e spirituale" and the four-choir music composed by Lambert de Sayve for the coronation of Emperor Matthias and Anne of Savoy in 1612.

The first concert of the season was held on March 28, 2025. Seventeenth-century music by Carlo Gesualdo alternated with twentieth-century compositions by Claude Vivier and Karl Amadeus Hartmann. The common thread of the concert was....murder, which links the three composers in different ways: the first murdered his wife caught in the act with her lover, the second was murdered at age 34 by a prostitute, and the third, Karl Amadeus Hartmann, witnessed the murders and atrocities of the Nazi regime. His Funeral Concerto for Violin and String Orchestra, a masterpiece of the 20th century, is the artist's reaction to violence and terror. Next on the program was "Lonely Child," a 1980 composition for soprano and orchestra by Claude Vivier, a cornerstone of so-called "spectral music." The two key 20th-century works entered into dialogue with Carlo Gesualdo's 17th-century madrigals. The Innsbrucker Hofmusik ensemble performed the concert together with the orchestra of the St. Blasius Academy, positioned in a high part of the church and visible only through a camera. The music filled the space increasing the intensity of the listening and perhaps also the drama of the music. A decidedly unusual concert, much appreciated by the audience in the hall.... who knows what excitement the next events will hold.

Friday, April 25, 2025, 7 p.m., Innsbruck Court Church
Noctem quietam 1646
Compline psalms by Giovanni Antonio Rigatti, Venice 1646

Friday, May 23, 2025, 7 p.m., Innsbruck Court Church
La Maddalena 1707
La Maddalena pentita by Alessandro Scarlatti

Friday, June 27, 2025, 7 p.m., Innsbruck Court Church
Vespers for the Empress 1641
Selva morale e spirituale by Claudio Monteverdi, Venice 1641

Friday, September 12, 2025, 7 p.m., Innsbruck Court Church
Coronatio Solemnissima 1612
Polychoral music by imperial chapel master Lambert de Sayve

Friday, October 24, 2025, 7 p.m., Innsbruck Court Church
Parthenon Halensis 1632
Works by maestro di cappella Christoph Sätzl

Friday, November 14, 2025, 7 p.m., Kaiser-Leopold-Saal, Katholisch- Theologische Fakultät, Innsbruck
Serenade of Peace
Music by Benedikt Anton Aufscgnaiter, Georg Mufat, Johan Joseph Fux and others

Tickets:
full 35 euro, reduced 25 euro, students up to 27 years 10 euro

Subscription to 6 concerts:
full 168 euros, reduced 120 euros

Tickets can be purchased:
at the box office of the Tiroler Volkskunstmuseum (from which there is direct access to the Hofkirche)
online at www.oeticket.com or www.eventim-light.com

Here is the program of the Innsbrucker Hofmusik 2025 season