150 Cultural initiatives The commitment in the field of art is diverse and focused on different art forms and national and international projects in order to promote widespread interest in art. The focus is also on the local art and culture communities. Cultural initiatives at the Vienna sites The Tiroler Festspiele Erl have been held annually since 1998 – since 2012, at a remodeled, extremely modern performance venue – and thrills audiences with an extraordinary program every summer. Also sponsored by RBI AG in 2016, the festival proved it is more than Wagner’s “Ring of the Nibelung”, for which it is so internationally renowned, by presenting nine opera performances, six concerts, three orchestras and eight evenings of chamber music. A new production of Rossini’s opera “William Tell” and Mozart’s “Magic Flute” were also part of the varied program, which included an additional family performance for the first time. However, the performance of Wagner’s Ring was © Peter Kitzbichler still the focus for many visitors and Wagner fans. The four-part opera comprising “Rheingold“, “The Valkyrie“, “Siegfried“ and “Twilight of the Gods” was presented on the stage of the Passionsspielhaus in Erl over four consecutive days. RZB AG supported the exhibition “Goldene Zeiten” (Golden Times) by the Austrian National Library from 20 November 2015 to 21 February 2016. Over 80 unique exhibits from more than 200 years of book culture were shown. In addition, RBI AG and RZB AG sponsored an exhibit entitled “Pointillism” at the Albertina art museum in Vienna in 2016. The exhibit presented 120 selected works illustrating the pioneering dot-based method of Pointillism employed between 1886 and 1930. One hundred selected masterpieces by Seurat and Signac, who are credited with inventing the style, as well as impressive paintings, watercolors and drawings by modern masters such as Van Gogh, Matisse and Picasso, who were fascinated by the pointillism, illustrated the breathtaking visual intensity and influence of this genre. RZB AG has been a patron of the Young Ensemble of Theater an der Wien (JET) – comprising three female and four male singers – through its cooperation with the Theater an der Wien/Chamber Opera which commenced in the 2012/2013 season. In the spring of 2016, RZB AG sponsored its fourth new production: “Carmen”, the world famous comic opera in three acts by Georges Bizet. In the autumn of 2016, RZB AG supported the new production of Verdi’s “La Traviata”, one of the most successful operas ever, which is based on the novel “Lady of the Camellias” by Alexandre Dumas, fils. In 2016, RZB AG supported many musical offerings. For example, it sponsored a new production of Giacomo Puccini’s “Turandot”, which premiered at the Vienna State Opera on 28 April. “Turandot”, which is based on a play with the same name by Carlo Gozzi, is one of the most magnificent operas ever presented and is a good example of the burgeoning interest in the ‘exotic’ which flourished during the first decade of the twentieth century. The opera was performed for the first time in the Austrian capital in October 1926. The bank’s sponsorship of a concert at the Wiener Musikverein made possible a performance of Gustav Mahler’s Ninth Symphony by the Boston Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Andris Nelsons on 10 May. In addition, RZB AG was a sponsoring partner for the project “RESOUND Beethoven” during the 2014/2015 and 2015/2016 seasons and will be again for the 2016/2017 season. This project of the Wiener Akademie (Vienna Academy), under the direction of Martin Haselböck, has brought performances of Beethoven’s nine symphonies on instruments of the period back to the magnificent theaters and concert halls of their premieres for the first time.
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