With the newly founded Spring Festival Primavera da Vienna, Trieste becomes the stage for a regional event: Under the direction of its chief conductor Petr Popelka, the Wiener Symphoniker will perform three concerts at the Politeama Rossetti from April 11 to 13, 2025. The festival begins on April 10, 2025, with the Aperitivo Musicale, where ensembles from the orchestra will transform the historic center of Trieste into a stage.

With free admission, the musical greetings of the Aperitivo Musicale are directed at the Triestini, who are warmly welcoming the Wiener Symphoniker to their hometown over the Palm Sunday weekend. The residency in the Adriatic city will open with a specially composed fanfare for Trieste, played from the balcony at the Piazza Unità d'Italia. Throughout the city center, small concerts can be discovered at special locations, such as Caffè degli Specchi, Piazza della Borsa, or Museo Revoltella. The grand finale will take place at the Molo Audace by the harbor: accompanied by cello sounds, the sunset on this day will be a special highlight.

“The music as a connecting element from yesterday to today and across borders,” in the words of the general director of the Wiener Symphoniker Jan Nast, is meant to revive the cultural exchange between Trieste and Vienna. The traditional orchestra has a close connection to the city, as the Politeama Rossetti in Trieste was the first theater outside Austria where the orchestra performed in 1902. Therefore, the Wiener Symphoniker is looking forward to an exciting homecoming.

On the first evening, excerpts from Giuseppe Verdi's operas Macbeth, Aida, and Don Carlo will be contrasted with the first act of Richard Wagner's Die Walküre – featuring a world-class cast of singers: Michael Spyres as Siegmund, Sarah Wegener as Sieglinde, and Georg Zeppenfeld as Hunding. On the second evening, Petr Popelka will bring together Mozart’s Prague Symphony and Mahler's Fourth Symphony, with soprano Julia Kleiter performing. The final evening will be a truly global experience: alongside polkas and waltzes by Johann Strauss II, the second half of the concert will feature works by Pjotr I. Tschaikowski (Capriccio Italien, scenes from Eugene Onegin) and Franz Lehár. The final concert will be recorded by ORF and broadcast on April 20, 2025, at 8:15 PM on ORF III. It will also be streamed by arte.tv starting April 28, 2025, on arte Concert.

Primavera da Vienna brings together special musical spring greetings that will resonate far beyond the Alpine-Danube-Adriatic region, blending maritime flair, Italian Dolce Vita, and the finest international music.