Academia Allegro Vivo 

Since its founding almost 50 years ago, the Academia Allegro Vivo chamber orchestra has established itself over decades as the resident ensemble of the International Allegro Vivo Festival and, as a renowned ensemble of its kind, has made a special mark on the European cultural landscape.
On the ensemble’s 40th anniversary, violinist and conductor Vahid Khadem-Missagh took over as artistic director, ushering in a generational change that was reflected in both the performers and the programme design.

With the aim of combining the highest artistic quality with the joy of music-making, the ensemble combines the Viennese string sound with a modern interpretative approach, acting as a musical ambassador on worldwide tours and accepting invitations to music festivals. In addition to the entire classical and romantic repertoire for string orchestra, Academia Allegro Vivo is dedicated to 20th-century and contemporary music, with numerous commissioned compositions and world premieres by contemporary composers.

The chamber orchestra’s rich oeuvre is documented on around 40 recordings released by the labels ORF Ö1, Gramola, Camerata Tokyo and AV-Records. Recent CD recordings released in the Ö1 Edition of Austrian Broadcasting Corporation include the world premieres of Tristan Schulze’s violin concerto (soloist: Vahid Khadem-Missagh) and Christoph Ehrenfellner’s double concerto for violin, cello and orchestra (soloists: Vahid Khadem-Missagh and László Fenyö). In 2021, the Ö1 Edition released the CD ‘Momentum’ with recordings of Beethoven’s Kreutzer Sonata in an arrangement for solo violin and strings, Beethoven’s 1st Symphony, Béla Bartók’s Divertimento Sz113 and Leoš Janáček’s Idylla op.3. In ‘Violin Reflections’, released in 2022, Vahid Khadem-Missagh presented romantic and virtuoso works by composers Antonín Dvořák, Maurice Ravel and Astor Piazzolla on solo violin. ‘Turning Point’ was released in 2024 with works by Anton Bruckner, Richard Strauss and Dmitri Shostakovich.

Three world premieres from the most recent opening concerts of the Allegro Vivo Festival were released last year under the title ‘Change over Time’. Violinist Vahid Khadem-Missagh and the Academia Allegro Vivo each entered into a dialogue with a second solo instrument. The encounters included violin and percussion in Sylvie Bodorová (premiere 2024), violin and accordion in Johannes Berauer (premiere 2023) and violin and tenor saxophone in Daniel Schnyder (premiere 2022).

“An ensemble excelling with its programmatic concept and refinement in playing.“

Das Orchester (07/2020)