Hello from Austria – Classical Music,
Hiking & Summer Tobogganing & Two Delicious Backyard Feasts
After just a gorgeous day on the Alpine peaks at the Austrian
/ Italian / Slovenian border, the weather gods were not as kind
yesterday. It rained and drizzled pretty much the whole day and
I spent a relaxing day in my home town, visiting with friends and
doing errands. The big excitement was reserved for the evening:
a live concert at the Kunsthaus Weiz, a recently constructed multi-purpose
performance venue. My sister-in-law Anneliese and I got ready for
an evening of classical music that would feature works by Mozart,
Strauss and Verdi.
A local lunch featuring a beef scarpaccio
Just before 7:30 pm we strolled into the concert hall and were
just able to find two separate seats in a packed venue. Many local
dignitaries were present, and this was an important event in Weiz’
social calendar. The concert was organized by the Weiz Lions Club
as a fundraising event and the concert featured the AIMS Festival
Orchestra and Soloists. AIMS stands for “American Institute
of Musical Studies”, a Graz-based organization that offers
six-week long programs in Vocal Lessons, Opera and Lieder Coaching,
Master Classes, Foreign Language Diction, Conversational German
and career-related courses for professional musicians, pianists
and singers.
AIMS students having a great time after the concert
Twelve young sopranos, two mezzo-sopranos, two baritones and six
tenors performed pieces from Mozart’s “The Magic Flute”,
Johann Strauss’ “Die Fledermaus” and Giuseppe
Verdi’s “La Traviata”. The music that these young
artists produced was indeed magical and we marveled at the talent
of the singers, none of whom seemed to be much older than 25 years
of age. The emcee, Andrea Huber, an American of Swiss heritage,
took us through the evening. Andrea herself is a highly respected
soprano who is now based in Germany and also teaches for AIMS.
Andrea Huber, our emcee and a successful soprano, with two AIMS
students
The orchestra was directed by Edoardo Müller, a renowned conductor
who has conducted in many of pre-eminent opera and concert houses
around the world, including those of Paris, Rome, Barcelona, Munich
as well as Tokyo and Santiago de Chile. His North American assignments
include the New York City Opera, the Lyric Opera of Chicago, the
Dallas Opera, the Seattle Opera and the San Francisco Opera. Most
of the musicians in the orchestra were also in their early twenties.
Receiving some well deserved applause
The beauty of this music deeply touched me, and in addition I was
elated by the notion that all these international music students,
most of whom hailed from the United States, came together in Europe
to hone their craft and pursue their passion. As I found out by
talking to some of the AIMS performers after the concert, the AIMS
program not only provides a great opportunity for elite musical
training, but also a cross-cultural experience that will create
memories of a lifetime. In my conversations with five or six of
the AIMS students I found out that they come from places such as
Boston, California, Rochester and even as far away as China. They
all confirmed that they were extremely well-received in Graz and
that they were having the time of their life, hoping that this European
experience will kick-start their careers in classical music.
More AIMS performers
In total the concert had raised 15,000 Euros for local needy families,
and the event was a resounding fundraising success. I even ran into
one of my old high school teachers, a sports and geography teacher,
who was extremely popular with the students. I had not seen him
for close to 30 years, but recognized him immediately. He still
had the same bright smile as he did three decades ago, and although
I had to jog his memory a bit, his face lit up when he started remembering
our class. Anneliese and I left the concert on a high and celebrated
the experience with a night cap in a local café called Weberhaus.
I mused that a small town like Weiz, with a population of less than
10,000, would offer such high caliber programming whose quality
was truly at an international level.
Intermission at the Weiz Kunsthaus
So after an evening of high culture, a more physical and culinary
program was on the menu today. I started the day off with another
photo safari through my home town of Weiz, and explored the Taborkirche,
which is dedicated to St. Thomas of Canterbury. The Romanesque church
was first mentioned in a document in 1188 and expanded in the late
1300s with a Gothic altar area.
A statue of Styrian poet Peter Rosegger in front of the Taborkirche
Until the late 1600s imposing walls and watchtowers were surrounding
the church, giving it a defensive character and making it possible
for the local population to find safety within the complex, which
was particularly important during the Turkish invasions during the
1500s. The church yard features several gravestones from the Roman
era, indicating that this area was actively settled more than 2,000
years ago although much older pre-historic remains were found in
the surrounding regions as well. The so-called Celtic Village on
the nearby Kulm Mountain is the first outdoor pre-history museum
in the province of Styria and illustrates that this area has been
inhabited since pre-historic times.
Crucifix in font of the Taborkirche
During a stroll through the Main Square of Weiz I ran across two
old acquaintances, my neighbours’ mother, who I had not seen
for at least 20 years and a friend from my former volleyball team
who I had not seen for more than two decades as well. It’s
now almost 21 years that I have been living in Toronto, but it was
great to see these familiar faces again and to reconnect after such
a long time.
Weiz City Hall
At 9:30 am I went to visit Klaudia, one of my best friends from
high school, at her parent’s house. Our other school mate
Doris was already there and it was great to see both of them again,
more than 23 years after we graduated from high school. After the
initial hugs and kisses and how-are-yous we started walking onto
the local hill, the Weizberg. Our stroll took us through the local
cemetery where we admired a very famous grave: the last resting
place of Aurelia Schwarzenegger, Arnold’s mother, who was
a long-time resident of Weiz.
Three peas in a pod...
Klaudia even mentioned that her father happened to encounter Mrs.
Schwarzenegger at the cemetery a number of years ago, but she had
collapsed due to a heart attack. My friend’s father called
the ambulance which gave her emergency treatment and took her to
the hospital. She passed away shortly after and Arnold Schwarzenegger
sent a thank you letter to the ambulance employees as well as to
Klaudia’s father, to thank him for getting help for his mother.
Proof that in this town real celebrity connections are just steps
away…
The gravestone of Arnold's mother, father and brother
We continued our stroll to the imposing baroque Weizbergkirche.
Right next to the church is the so-called “Kräutergarten”
(herb garden) that was created by a group of local residents (including
Klaudia’s mom) that features a wide variety of local herbs,
many of which are used in the regional cuisine. Then we took the
romantic stairs down the hill, a pathway that we had walked many
times as children. Our local stroll took us past our former high
school, where we discussed fond memories of our school years.
The baroque Weizbergkirche
One of the highlights of our high school careers were two choir
trips to Germany, to our partner school in Offenburg, where the
two school choirs jointly performed classical songs. We most fondly
recalled the actual concert where for the finale both school choirs
appeared together to jointly sing the last song. Screaming our lungs
out among 120 singers from two different countries was an exhilarating
experience, and not surprisingly my passions for cross-cultural
exchanges were kindled at an early age.
Danger in the kitchen! Moi with Klaudia's mom, the real expert
After our return to Klaudia’s parents Doris left and the
rest of us started preparing a hearty meal, and I, by no means gifted
in the kitchen, donned the apron and started cutting and chopping
whatever needed to be done. (Good thing I was not in charge of any
really important tasks…) Klaudia’s mom whipped up a
delicious meal for 10+ people in next to no time and we soon sat
down in the garden to have some Austrian specialties: we savoured
a “Bröselknödelsuppe” (breadcrumb dumplings
in a clear beef broth), stuffed green peppers and delicious mashed
potatoes with caramelized onions.
A great meal in the garden
Given this delicious yet substantial calory injection, we had to
do a work-out and decided to do a hike up onto the Schöckel,
at over 1400 m the highest local mountain. Around 2 pm we met up
with Doris again and all three of us broke out our Nordic walking
poles and we attacked the mountain from its steepest side. Doris,
an experienced hiker, led the group at a rather hellish pace, and
the two of us clambered behind her. Some areas were so steep we
had to use our hands to brace ourselves climbing up between the
rocks. But our walking sticks definitely aided in the ascent and
about an hour later we were rewarded with an astounding 360 degree
view over the Styrian hills and mountains.
Doris and Klaudia with their walking sticks
The Schöckel is also referred to as the “Grazer Hausberg”
or local mountain of Graz, and we had great views down into the
Styrian capital and the Mur Valley. To the south the Austrian and
Slovenian plains were stretching out, looking east and right saw
the foothills of Eastern and Western Styria, and to the north we
took in the panorama of the more imposing mountains of the Styrian
Alps. We also saw several ramps for hang-gliders, a popular activity
in this region.
Gorgeous view eastwards from the Schöckel
We walked past some peaceful cows that were grazing on the mountain
pastures and reached the summit area which is the location of the
upper station of the cable car, of a couple of restaurants and a
summer tobogganing course. The weather today was brilliant and many
serious hikers, mountain bikers and tourists were congregating at
the mountain top. We were quite fascinated by the summer tobogganing
and Doris suggested that I should try it.
What a gorgeous day....
Well, I have always been a bit of a daredevil and she did not have
to say it twice. She even sprang for my Euro 2.50 round, and a couple
of minutes later I was sitting in the steel “buggy of death”,
ready for my hair-raising descent down the serpentine curves of
the course. Actually, the ride was a lot tamer than I expected,
and I only occasionally pulled the brakes, but it was still an very
entertaining experience. I figured if I did it again I would probably
try to go down the course without breaking at all.
The Stubenberghaus, a registered heritage property
Once the lift had pulled my buggy back up to the summit plateau
we started walking past the Stubenberghaus, a large mountain restaurant
and inn, towards the summit cross which provides a beautiful view
northwards into the mountainous area of Upper Styria. I have always
loved mountains, and to see peak after peak after peak was just
a great experience. We then started hiking back to the car and our
trek back down was considerably easier than the torturous climb
up. We stopped at Doris’ beautiful country house on the way
back where we admired her recently created garden pond and her new
dog. Equipped with some gorgeous ripe Styrian peaches from Doris’
family’s farm we returned to Weiz and I dropped Klaudia off.
The three girls at the summit cross
About an hour later we reunited when Klaudia, her husband and two
children, her parents, her sister Andrea and her daughters Nina
and Katja arrived at my brother’s place. Tonight we would
all get together for a great barbecue, and my brother Ewald, the
passionate chef, had a few special treats waiting for us. Anneliese,
my sister-in-law, had been helping all afternoon with the preparations.
Arctic char - fresh from the pan on the open fire
After some initial chit-chatting we started off with a savoury
vegetable soup, and then my brother started preparing the main course:
13 whole artic chars were waiting to be grilled in a large pan on
an open fire. Ewald had already been marinating the fish in a special
blend of herbs and spices the whole day. Tender young potatoes were
to accompany the fish, and a solid Styrian salad with pumpkin seed
oil rounded out the main course. A scrumptious raspberry parfait
provided the sweet final note to our culinary symphony.
Everyone enjoyed the meal
So despite a bit of rainy weather yesterday, I had had a fantastic
couple of days which included classical music, hiking, a reunion
with good friends and an amazing array of gastronomic delicacies.
Now there is only one more full day left of my trip to Austria,
and tomorrow we will explore one of the medieval treasures of Styria:
the Riegersburg,
a massive fortress on a basaltic outcrop dating back to the
10th century, often referred to as the “strongest fortress
of Christianity” because it was never conquered.
