Live chamber music and original animation turn Johann Strauss II’s biography into a story-led concert, with waltzes, polkas and marches threaded through the tale.
The performance uses the Music Story Concert format developed by Siji Aiyue Chamber Ensemble, which combines an original script and animation with live chamber playing. Its approach is to make classical music easier to follow by telling a story, rather than presenting one detached piece after another.
The subject is Johann Strauss II’s life and music: his Vienna childhood in a musical family, his father’s efforts to keep him away from music, his early public performance and the contrasting political loyalties of father and son. Conversational narration and animated scenes link the musical numbers to these episodes.
The selection moves from Johann Strauss I’s Radetzky March to his son’s Blue Danube, Tales from the Vienna Woods, Voices of Spring and the overture to Die Fledermaus. Eduard Strauss’s Happy Train Polka adds another family voice, while instrument introductions bring the ensemble’s playing into closer focus.
Full programme
- Johann Strauss II - Entry March
- Johann Strauss II - Poems of the Heart Waltz
- Johann Strauss II - Explosion Polka
- Johann Strauss II - Annen Polka
- Johann Strauss II - The Blue Danube
- Johann Strauss II - Tales from the Vienna Woods
- Eduard Strauss - Happy Train Polka
- Johann Strauss II - Overture to Die Fledermaus
- Johann Strauss II - Roses from the South
- Johann Strauss II - Voices of Spring
- Johann Strauss II - Eva Waltz
- Johann Strauss I - Radetzky March
85 Jiaodaokoudong Street, Dongcheng