Weiler Autumn

Beethoven and the martial arts

(Bild: School of Music Weiler)

(Bild: School of Music Weiler)

Conductor, cellist and mental coach Stefan Susana has developed Beethoven's works in a special way with young musicians. The program was presented in Weiler. 

The "Weiler Herbst" festival has been running for several years now, initiated and supported by Stefan Susana and generously sponsored by the parish and community of this village in the Vorderland region. Last week, Susana presented his "Beethoven Project", which he has developed in several workshops with young musicians from Vorarlberg and far beyond. In addition to careful study of the scores, there is also mental coaching - keyword stage fright etc. - and the study of the martial art of "Kung Fu". This means consistent, hard work and dealing with chi, the all-encompassing energy - very similar to music.

Stefan Susana has internalized Kung Fu, which is demonstrated by his very special way of conducting, in which he controls the musical flow with powerful, energetic movements. And the special gold-colored choker is not to be overlooked, an expression of his will to achieve the greatest possible focus. Beethoven's overture to the play "Egmont" and his famous "Symphony of Fate" become a rousing experience, where you completely forget the narrow church pews you are sitting on. It hardly needs mentioning that the ensemble playing of these young people is outstanding and that the phrasing and musical expression are absolutely convincing.

Pawel Zalejski, principal violinist of the internationally acclaimed quartet "Apollon musagète" and concertmaster of the SOV, was the first conductor of this orchestra, which calls itself Camerata Sinfonica Vorarlberg, and he also coached the Ambedo Quartet from Catalonia, which performed the first part of the concert evening in the Weiler parish church. This fabulous young ensemble consisting of the four men Raul Campos and Alexis Garita, violins, Jaume Pueyo, viola and Carlos Villa, cello, was not playing in our region for the first time. Here in Weiler, they interpreted Beethoven's String Quartet Opus 18/2 with both precision and relaxation, and these two parameters are not contradictory when you are in the flow.