"Stars & Talents": ORF III promotes young classical musicians

The program gives private insights into the lives of the children and young people and invites the stars for interviews. Musical greats such as Erwin Schrott, Rolando Villazon or Elina Garanca also reveal a lot of personal information, including about their beginnings and how they themselves were supported. Also common musical appearances of the "stars & talents" are planned.

Leona König, who also moderates the program: "It is very important to me to bring young talents into musical exchange with internationally famous stars. My goal is that they not only make music together, but in the best case, that they are on stage together. I am committed to ensuring that this connection is maintained over the long term in order to create a lasting effect and not just a unique experience!".

Three episodes have already been pre-produced, and a further performance can be recorded during the "Light into Darkness" gala at the end of November - not exactly easy in pandemic times. The Vienna State Opera, the Vienna Konzerthaus and the MUK - Musik und Kunst Privatuniversität der Stadt Wien have served as locations for filming so far.

A Long Tradition

ORF III Managing Director Peter Schöber underlines the "long tradition of nurturing young talent at ORF III". With the new program "Stars & Talents", ORF III is consistently continuing the path of promoting young talent in the field of art and culture, which we have been pursuing single-mindedly for many years. The new ORF III format now joins the ranks of these programs and gives the stars of tomorrow the opportunity to exchange ideas with the greats of today at eye level.

Author and presenter of "Stars and Talents"

Leona König is the chairwoman of the International Music Association for the Promotion of Highly Gifted Children and initiator of the "Golden Note" Music Promotion Prize, which was broadcast on ORF 3 for the first time this year. Due to the great success with more than 130,000 spectators, it was decided to offer a stage for young talents between competitions. The philanthropist has fully committed herself to this task.