First balance sheet

KulturEXPO already attracts 179,000 visitors

From the left: Wilfried Enzenhofer as Anton Bruckner, Norbert Trawöger, Margot Nazzal, David Wagner and LH Thomas Stelzer at the launch of "Wagner cycles Bruckner".

(Bild: Land OÖ/Antonio Bayer)

The 200th birthday of the great Upper Austrian composer Anton Bruckner inspired this year's first Upper Austrian KulturEXPO. The range of events extends from music and theater to bicycle tours. After six months of Bruckner fever, the first interim results are now available.

Anton Bruckner, the great composer from Ansfelden and St. Florian, has been the focus of numerous events since 1 January 2024 to mark the 200th anniversary of his birth. The new Upper Austrian KulturEXPO format was created for this major anniversary year. "Bruckner will be talked about, discussed, played and listened to - country up, country down," says Governor Thomas Stelzer, describing the program. 

The events in the first half of the year already offered an impressive variety, which began with an international audience of millions at the interval film of the New Year's Concert "Anton Bruckner - A Journey of Discovery".

From concert to rally
There was also room for the unusual, from small and fine joint music-making with members of the St. Florian Boys' Choir and the Bruckner Orchestra in a cozy pub atmosphere to a vintage car rally from organ to organ at ten Bruckner locations.

Bruckner in his "heartland" of St. Florian

(Bild: Dostal Harald)

Good response to new format
An interim assessment has now been made for the first time: "The impressive figure of 179,000 visitors at the halfway point shows that the idea of the Upper Austrian KulturEXPO is a complete success," says Stelzer, feeling vindicated. Around 338 events have already taken place.

In the field of tension between tradition and innovation, artists span an arc that extends beyond the borders of Upper Austria and has also led to international collaborations.

LH Thomas Stelzer

Exhibition until October 27
A flagship project of the Upper Austrian KulturEXPO is the exhibition "How it all began. Bruckner's Visions" in the Augustinian canons' monastery of St. Florian. Until October 27, visitors can experience in a contemporary and interactive way how this place shaped and influenced the musician.

Every week, "Suuuperkultursonntag" invites families to the exhibition for an entertaining and enjoyable Bruckner experience.