High culture festival in Innervillgraten

The Musicbanda Franui invites you from August 12 to 15, 2026to the top-class festival on the Unterstaller AlmInnervillgraten

Anything that takes place at a certain altitude above sea level can easily be considered high culture. That's what the ten musicians of Franui thought, and in 2023 they wowed audiences for the first time at the "Hoch Kultur Festival" on the Unterstaller Alm in Innervillgraten, 1673 m above sea level. There will be a new edition in 2026: a whole host of unique musical friends and companions will once again follow the Osttirol music band onto the large open-air stage in the middle of the alpine mountain landscape and into a festival tent in the village center, switching carefree from classical to jazz, from folk to contemporary sounds.

Program and all information

WEDNESDAY 12.08.

Festival tent, Innervillgraten, 7 pm

Nicholas Ofczarek & Franui

HOLZFÄLLEN based on the novel by Thomas Bernhard

"Holzfällen", the successful production from the Vienna Burgtheater, which has been shown more than 50 times on important stages in the German-speaking world, is coming to Osttirol. Nicholas Ofczarek, known as an actor from stage and film, performs Thomas Bernhard's scandalous novel in a unique way together with the Musicbanda Franui. "A ravishing excitement" was the headline in the Kurier newspaper, "beautifully paced" was the opinion of the Süddeutsche Zeitung and the Austria Presse Agentur wrote: "It only took three names to fill the Burgtheater to the last seat: Thomas Bernhard, Nicholas Ofczarek and the Musicbanda Franui."

With this extraordinary evening of musical theater, the Hoch Kultur Festival will be performing for the first time in a circus tent in the village center of Innervillgraten, which will also serve as an alternative venue for the remaining festival days in case of bad weather.

THURSDAY 13.08.

Musicbanda Franui | Christiane Karg, soprano | Simply Quartet, string quartet | Áron Horváth, cimbalom | Nik Bärtsch's Ronin, Zen-Funk Quartet

For the opening of the open-air stage at 1,673 m, Musicbnada Franui will be performing for the first time with soprano Christiane Karg. Together with the internationally acclaimed singer, they will perform songs by Schubert, Mahler and - for the first time! - several songs by Richard Strauss.

This will be followed by the award-winning Simply Quartet, whose enormous musical range has delighted audiences in many musical capitals. Hardly anyone plays the cimbalom, the Eastern European version of the dulcimer, with such virtuosity as the young Hungarian Áron Horváth, who is a rising star in Europe's concert halls. He moves musically between folk music, Béla Bartók and jazz (and back again).

This leads directly to the performance of Swiss pianist, producer and bandleader Nik Bärtsch: with his quartet Ronin, he has been playing hypnotizing music for many years, in which funk, groove, classical music and elements of Japanese Zen merge into something completely new.

FRIDAY 14.08.

Open Air - Unterstaller Alm, Innervillgraten, from 3 pm

The Erlkings, folk art song quartet | Viviane Chassot, accordion | Johanna Summer, jazz piano | Elektro Guzzi, acoustic techno band | Musicbanda Franui

Nobody can transform a so-called art song into a song of our time as carelessly as the US-American-Viennese singer Bryan Benner and his ensemble The Erlkings, who are making their Osttirol debut with this concert. Between the songs, the Swiss Viviane Chassot plays one or two classical sonatas for piano beautifully on her accordion.

In the middle section of the concert day, the legendary acoustic techno band Elektro Guzzi will take to the stage on the Alm with electric guitar, bass and drums. Between their floating tracks, the wonderful Johanna Summer improvises on the piano. She is a high-flyer on the European jazz scene and has already wowed audiences at the Hoch Kultur Festival in 2023.

Finally, the Franuis pull out some of their favorite pieces from their music cabinet, which has been diligently filled over the past 33 years - that's how long the Osttirol Musicbanda has existed. Nobody knows exactly what will happen next. The only thing that is certain is that there will be something by Schubert, that a funeral march will definitely be played and that there will be some heartfelt singing.

SATURDAY 15.08.

Open Air - Unterstaller Alm, Innervillgraten, from 3 pm

Vox Clamantis, vocal ensemble (conductor: Jaan-Eik Tulve) | Wolfgang Muthspiel, guitar | Pierre-Laurent Aimard, piano | Florian Boesch, baritone | Musicbanda Franui

The 12-member Estonian vocal ensemble Vox Clamantis has a unique sound and is enthusiastic about the beginnings of Western polyphony as well as contemporary choral music. Their recordings of Arvo Pärt's compositions have been awarded a Grammy. In the midst of all this vocal splendor sits Austria's most famous jazz musician, guitarist Wolfgang Muthspiel, performing his "Etudes". Soon afterwards, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, one of the greatest musicians of our time, takes to the stage. Important composers have written works especially for the French pianist, and he makes guest appearances at major festivals, orchestras and concert organizers. Now the Unterstaller Alm is on the tour schedule - out of solidarity with the Musicbanda Franui and bass-baritone Florian Boesch, who will perform their celebrated version of Franz Schubert's "Die schöne Müllerin" on the alpine pastures as the finale.