Palmklang in Oberalm

High culture meets folk culture in Tennengau

Do you know Palmklang or have you heard of it before? Since 2009, established professional artists have been meeting passionate amateur musicians at the Palm weekend in Oberalm and bringing unique performances of high culture and folk culture to the stage at the Winklhof. In addition, a lot of well-known but also extraordinary things are offered to the visitors of the unique music festival.

The artists always enjoy coming to the festival in Oberalm. They are all part of the ever-growing PalmKlang family. You can feel this family factor - whether as an audience member or as a musician on stage. This year, in addition to the first-class evening concerts at Winklhof, there will again be a children"s concert, the world premiere of this year"s Palmklang 2023 commissioned work, workshops for interested musicians in the "Palmklang Academy" and, for the first time, a Passion Singing in Oberalm Parish Church.

Palmklang Programme 2023:

Why you should get tickets as soon as possible, why Palmklang actually exists and what you can expect at the Palmklang music festival in our neighbouring community of Oberalm, I"ll tell you in the following lines:

No festival without passion!

But first to the history of Palmklang! On a Palm weekend in 2007, Armin Keuschnigg had the idea of organising workshops in Oberalm for the members of the Trachtenmusikkapelle Oberalm and got Matthias Schorn, who is widely known in the music scene, on board. From this they createde PALMKLANG , which already took place for the first time in 2009.

Since then, top musicians who normally fill large concert halls all over the world have met with passionate amateur musicians from Salzburg at Palmklang and have filled the gymnasium of the agricultural school in  Winklhof every year for almost 15 years. The "Palmklang family" continues to grow every year and friendships develop beyond the music.

Palmklang"s philosophy also includes offering culture at affordable prices and making the performances accessible to all ages and all walks of life. Apart from the many volunteers, Palmklang has been organised by Armin Keuschnigg and Matthias Schorn on a voluntary basis from the very beginning.

I would like to introduce you to the two gentlemen responsible for the Palmklang Festival in more detail before we get to the information about this year"s Palmklang programme:

Organiser Armin Keuschnigg

Brass music in the blood! As a former bandmaster and long-time member of the Trachtenmusikkapelle Oberalm, bandmaster of the Trachtenmusikkapelle Krispl-Gaißau and district chairman of the Tennengauer Blasmusikverband, his heart beats for brass music in the province of Salzburg and for 15 years now also for Palmklang.

Armin is pleased that "the Palmklang family grows every year and that the festival has established itself as a gem for art enthusiasts from near and far since its inception, presenting music from all directions to the audience with openness, enthusiasm and passion. Through the personalised concerts, we appeal to the regional audience from the Tennengau, but also far beyond. All in all, Palmklang is a festival for everyone".

In addition to his voluntary activities with Palmklang and around the Tennengau music bands, he is also known as the clarinettist of the former "Dürrnberger Spatzen" and the "Wilden Kerle" and is currently on the road again with the "Wiestalern" at balls, weddings and various festivals. He enjoys playing folk songs in Oberkrainer style as well as modern rhythms (hits, rock, pop, etc.).

Artistic Director Matthias Schorn

The versatile musician and solo clarinettist in the Vienna State Opera and the Vienna Philharmonic - Matthias Schorn has his roots in Salzburg in Alpine folk and brass music and was a member of the Trachtenmusikkapelle Bad Vigaun and Oberalm in his youth. He plays on pub stages, open-air festivals and clubs as well as in the big concert halls from Vienna to Hamburg. As an exceptional musician without airs and graces, he is a gifted networker, which benefits Palmklang greatly.

As the artistic director of the Palmklang Festival, he has sensitively planned the programming over the past years: a well-balanced mixture of popular yet challenging music, combined with unusual listening experiences, with which he invites the visitors on a common journey of discovery.

    Palmklang is meant to be a lively meeting place for music lovers from all points of the compass!

Matthias Schorn"s concern is "to establish a small but fine festival in Oberalm together with artist friends and colleagues, where my vision of making music can be realised and brought to the people". The grandiose success of PalmKlang in recent years has confirmed me in this vision."

Palmklang 2023 - the programme!

On the four days of the Palmklang 2023 weekend from Thursday, 30 March to Sunday, 2 April, a varied programme for young and old awaits you in Oberalm, as every year. According to Matthias Schorn, the Palmklang Festival 2023 is intended to prove that "folk culture and high culture" are not mutually exclusive, but complement each other. That "regionality and internationality" can not be opposites, but points of attraction!" We offer - following the founding idea of PalmKlang - several workshops in cooperation with the Salzburg Wind Music Association to provide "fresh air" to the voluntary wind music and association sector, which has been battered (also by Corona). We organise the Salzburg Passion Singing in the parish church of Oberalm as a "prelude" in order to really "pick up" as many people as possible in a serious way. We invite our youngest audience to the children"s and family concert to experience music interactively before the adults get to hear how the commissioned composition by PalmKlang sounds in the evening. With "Pro Brass", "Federspiel", the "Fauré Quartet" as well as members of the Vienna and Berlin Philharmonic Orchestras, we welcome some of the most internationally renowned musicians to Oberalm.

A varied programme awaits you, which I would like to briefly summarise here. More detailed information on the Palmklang programme and tickets are available directly at: www.palmklang.at

THURSDAY - Passion Singing in the Parish Church of Oberalm

As a perfect prelude to the upcoming Easter season, Palmklang starts this year for the first time with the prelude "In Paradisum". The  Salzburg Passion Singing is a hybrid of Passion Singing and Passion Play, comparable in dramaturgical structure to the Salzburg Shepherds" Advent.

Under the direction of Josef Radauer, who has also been involved in Tobi Reiser"s Salzburg Advent Singing since 1969, "the action is accompanied and carried by wonderful music from a wide variety of ancient sources at the intersection of folk and classical music - from festive wind tunes by the Pongau wind players, to touching Passion tunes by the Radauer Ensemble, to choral and three-part songs."

Friday - To be or not to be?

The excellent musicians of Pro Brass find a musical answer to this question and show you at this unique concert how fear, joy, death, light and also the now can sound! 12 brass players plus piano, drums and percussion await you on stage. These 15 musicians from „PRO BRASS“ are musicians from top international orchestras, university professors and jazz musicians who have been combining the highest brass art with new arrangements and their own compositions since the 1980s.

Always at the point of time and without zeitgeist. Always new, that is. Whether humorous, classical or unconventional - Pro Brass combines virtuosity with lightness. You can expect a special concert evening between being or not being.  

From the Pro Brass programme "Ka Göd oba a Musi" by Alfred Lauss-Linhart:

Saturday - Family Concert

Saturday afternoon at PalmKlang belongs - as usual - to the next generation. At 3 pm, the large hall at Schloss Winklhof becomes the stage for the youngest audience. Federspiel invites you to an interactive music lesson for the whole family:

Because, "Whoever thinks a Federspiel concert is only for adult audiences is wrong. In the specially conceived series "Federspielchen", the seven musicians take on children from the age of 4 as their full-fledged and favourite guests and playfully introduce them to the world of music. How fast can you dance a polka? Does a golden trumpet sound the same as a silver one? What does a composer have to think about when he wants to write a new piece? The musicians get to the bottom of all these questions together with the children. They can sing, dance, stomp and shout along the way".

The children"s concert will feature the well-known exceptional trumpeter Christoph Moschberger, who already performed on the PalmKlang stage last year with "Blechhauf`n". With FEDERSPIEL you can expect a top-class brass ensemble, which has already performed on the most established concert stages worldwide. Here is a sample of "Freedom Waltz":

Saturday - Concert with original performance!

With the concert "Pictures at an Exhibition" with the first-class  Fauré Quartett, one of the world"s most renowned chamber music ensembles enters the Palmklang stage on Saturday evening. They have been visionaries in their field since 1995 and their experiments and discoveries are highly regarded

"Palmklang Composer" World Premiere

In the first part, the four international top musicians, together with Matthias Schorn, pay tribute to this year"s "PalmKlang Composer" Jarkko Riihimäki from Finland and present the world premiere of the work "The Last 11 Years" commissioned by PalmKlang. In terms of content, the piece shows many impressions of the common musical path of the friendly musicians of Fauré Quartett, Matthias Schorn and Jarkko Riihimäki.

In the second part, Modest Mussorgsky"s "Pictures at an Exhibition" will be heard in a unique arrangement for piano quartet.

Sunday - Just Fun

The Palmklang weekend will conclude with the concert "Just Fun - Humorous on 1 April on 2 April" around Matthias Schorn and his "philharmonic blood brother" Christoph Gigler, who together created the "daily music hour" during the 1st Lockdown. Over the years, this collaboration has resulted in a full-length, humorous programme, which the two thoroughbred musicians will bring to the stage at Palmklang together with Josef Reif, Valerie Schatz, Jarkko Riihimäki and the Schick Sisters.

I myself followed the daily music lesson 2020 online and can highly recommend this very authentic and humorous performance. Even if, like me, you can"t read music and don"t have much musical knowledge, the "lessons" are very entertaining and, in addition to the clarinet and tuba, the two also play the Stoariegler Polka on the Styrian harmonica. Here is a "best of" of the daily music lesson...

At "Just Fun" you can expect "a conversation concert with musical surprises from all directions. An evening like a box of chocolates: you never know what you"re going to get". With works by Daniel Schnyder, Georg Breinschmid, Werner Pirchner, Joseph Haydn, Jarkko Riihimäki, Joesi Prokopetz, the Flippers, the Fidelen Mölltalern and many more!

Workshop - the Palmklang Academy

Back to the roots, Armin Keuschnigg and Matthias Schorn thought and offer, as in the beginning in 2009, workshops for interested musicians together with the Salzburger Blasmusikverband. "We want to make a difference with the workshop. To give the musicians something to take with them," say the organisers. The focus is not on lessons, but rather on insider tips, getting to know the unique musicians and artists, as well as the exchange between full professionals and recreational musicians.

At the PalmKlang Akademie 2023, the first-class musicians of Pro Brass and Federspiel teach in group lessons with 5 musicians in units of 2 hours each. Clarinet, trumpet, flugelhorn, tenor horn, horn, trombone, bass trombone, tuba and percussion are taught at the workshops and participants of the academy receive a 50% discount for a Palmklang concert.

NEW: With the "I am Music Academy", mental training for interested musicians is also offered for the first time with Mona Köppen. In the 2-hour workshop, the artists learn to become mentally fit(ter) for the next audition, rehearsal or performance.

Off to Oberalm for the Palmklang Festival 2023

Palmklang 2023 promises a full programme with very special highlights for visitors young and old. The international music days have developed magnificently and attract hundreds of visitors to our region every year. As a long-standing sponsor of Palmklang, we at the Puch Tourism Association wish the event all the best and the visitors wonderful musical highlights. During the breaks you will be spoiled with culinary delights by Gasthof Angerer.

You don"t have tickets yet? What are you waiting for! Click on www.palmklang.at and get your ticket right away. The popular Palmklang pass for the whole weekend is already sold out! Tickets are also available at "Ritzberger - Genuss mit Stil" and Uniqa General Agency Eibl & Erdmann in Oberalm.

Here we go to Oberalm for the Palmklang Festival: