［CITY］Eisenstadt … Austria
［SCHEDULE］2021：9.15 … 9.26
To the festival site ▷
Eisenstadt, the capital of Burgenland, is near the border between Austria and Hungary, about an hour by train from Vienna to the south. Until World War I, the area was the territory of the Kingdom of Hungary (during the Austro-Hungarian dual empire), and the cityscape shows a soft looking that is different from Vienna.
One such building is the palace of the Hungarian noble Esterhazy, known as one of Austria’s most beautiful baroque palaces. Burgenland is also one of Austria’s leading wine regions, and the vast Esterhazy-owned wineries still remain on the outskirts of Eisenstadt.
Franz Joseph Haydn（1732-1809） is the composer who has long served as the court chapel master of the Esterhazy family. He became Deputy master in 1761 and has been master since 1766, spending 30 years and composing numerous works in Eisenstadt. He was later released from his post and spent his later years in Vienna, but is now reinterred and sleeping in Eisenstadt.
As the name “Autumn Gold” suggests, the music festival is held every autumn at the palace. It is not a Haydn-themed festival. The main venue, “The Haydn Saar”, is a small hall with 660 seats, but is known for its good acoustics. From 2021, the Chamber Orchestra of Europe became the resident orchestra of the palace. Of course, they will be the protagonists of the festival.
