The festival will open with an open-air concert by the local Haydn Orchestra under the direction of young Dutch conductor Pieter-Jelle de Boer and with violinist Edoardo Zosi as the featured soloist. On August 8th, David Afkham, one of the great discoveries of last year's Salzburg Festival, will conduct the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester in a programme featuring works by Mozart and Tchaikovsky. On August 18th, the audience will bear witness to how Sir Colin Davis and renowned American mezzo-soprano Susan Graham can inspire the young musicians of the GMJO to give their finest performance. The programme will premiere in Bolzano, kicking off a tour of the leading music festivals in Europe. Vladimir Ashkenazy and the EUYO will give a truly “titanic” concert programme, comprising Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 1 and Stravinsky's Firebird. Later in the summer, the students of Gustav Mahler Academy will have the opportunity to demonstrate the result of three weeks of intense training: their traditional closing concert will be conducted once again by Philipp von Steinaecker. An unequivocal highlight of the festival will be the September 25th concert given by the Bologna-based Mozart Orchestra, with Portuguese pianist Maria João Pires and conducted by none other than the illustrious Claudio Abbado.