The Wiener Staatsoper is organizing a gala concert “We Play for Austria” on Sunday, April 19, 2020 (8:15 p.m. on ORF III and on Radio Ö1) and will be the start of three live music evenings from the ORF RadioKulturhaus.

The concerts were organzied by ORF III in cooperation with u. a. mit dem Haus am Ring, the Volksoper Vienna and the Vereinigte Bühnen Wien.

The concert will include Anna Netrebko and Yusif Eyvazov, Juan Diego Flórez, Valentina Naforniţă, Tomasz Konieczny, Elena Maximova and Jongmin Park singing arias and duets. The program will be supplemented by video clips from Jonas Kaufmann in Germany, Piotr Beczała from Poland as well as Andreas Schager and Lidia Baich.

The state opera artists will be accompanied by a string quartet from the RSO Vienna and pianist Jendrik Springer. Barbara Rett will moderate the concert.

The three concerts will take place in the ORF RadioKulturhaus in compliance with the strictest security requirements.

In a statement tenor Juan Diego Flórez noted, “The current situation weighs heavily on us singers and musicians like everyone else in the world. With this concert we are looking for new forms and ways to show that art is always alive and we artists are always there for people will be!”

Meanwhile, Anna Netrebko and Yusif Eyvazov said, “We are very much looking forward to the concert on Sunday. We miss the audience in this difficult time and hope we can give people a little pleasure at home. We are confident that this time will pass and we look forward to seeing you again in the opera or concert hall