As Franz Lehar’s 150th anniversary in 2020 could not be appropriately celebrated because of the Corona lockdown and the difficulties and restrictions associated with it, the Johann Strauss Society of Vienna decided to postpone the event to a later date. The festivity took place at the beginning of 2024. The great number of musicians, some prominent performers among them, was unprecedented and and truly impressive . It was definitely the most prestigious jubilee which the Johann Strauss Society of Vienna had ever arranged for Franz Lehar, the most famous successor of the waltz king.

On 27th January our Society presented a concert performance of Lehar’s operetta „ Schön ist die Welt“, which played an important role in his musical career. It clearly reveals his ambition to bring operetta closer to opera. The second act, for instance, which lasts for 35 minutes, is filled exclusively by a single Soprano and a Tenor on stage. With its highly dramatic passages in both vocal parts and the intense, symphonic descriptions of nature, the piece occupies a special position – not only among the composer’s musical works, but also in the genre of operetta .

For the implementation of this demanding project the Johann Strauss Society of Vienna engaged the Classical Operetta Ensemble Vienna as well as the Gardemusik Wien under the baton of Oberst Prof. Bernhard Heher. It was performed in the ballroom of the Grand Hotel Vienna. More than a week before the performance all tickets were sold out.

The conductor and his orchestra as well as the soloists were rapturously applauded. The demanding main parts were sung by Claudia Camie and Peter Widholz (left of the conductor) and the roles of the buffo pair by Teresa Gardner and Pablo Cameselle (right of the conductor).

Special praise was bestowed upon Marianne Nentwich, the doyenne of the Theater in der Josefstadt, for guiding  the audience through the plot with connecting texts and comparisons between then and now.

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