The Bruckner Orchestra Conquers the JKU Campus

The Johannes Kepler University, the Bruckner Orchestra, and the Kepler Salon extended an invitation to an exchange of arts and sciences.

blick auf das orchester blick seitlich von oben
Conductor Markus Poschner and the Bruckner Orchestra at the JKU.

The evening’s main theme was about the ground-shifting new ideals, disruptive innovation and Bruckner’s Symphony in D minor (WAB 100).

The Bruckner Orchestra was invited to play on campus for the first time in the history of the JKU. The Ceremony Hall, primarily used for academic celebrations, was quickly converted into a concert hall and even more: into a highly visible space to experience the arts. Audience members sat so close to the orchestra that it was as if they were actually a part of it. Chief conductor Markus Poschner stood in the middle to conduct Bruckner’s so-called “Zero” (named because Bruckner withdrew the symphony and marked a zero on the manuscript) and proceeded to take the audience on a journey into Bruckner's cosmos. As narrator, commentator and interpreter. Bruckner’s once withdrawn Symphony in D Minor then became a unique experience. The buzz following the concert reiterated that the event was nothing less than a "great moment on campus".

Rector Meinhard Lukas dedicated the first part of the evening to the ground-shifting new ideals in the arts, in science and in academia. He referred to the "giants of our modern age", such as Leonardo da Vinci, Johannes Kepler, and Anton Bruckner. These individuals radically explored new ideas, literally taking the world off of its hinges. They were not characterized as specialists, but rather as liberally educated people with humanist attitudes and outlooks. Rector Lukas referred to the educational ideals of the Renaissance:

"Tonight is a very conscious plea for a universitas of knowledge and symbiosis of science, academia, and the arts. Can we not express this more wonderfully than a concert by the world renowned Bruckner Orchestra at the Johannes Kepler University - an orchestra in great demand all over the world?"