Charity Concert: Bruckner's Eighth for a Good Cause
10/14/2025The Academic Orchestra of the University of Würzburg opens the semester on Saturday, 18 October, with Bruckner's 8th Symphony - as a charity concert for children with cancer.
The Academic Orchestra of the University of Würzburg opens the winter semester with a festive charity concert: on Saturday, 18 October 2025, it will perform Anton Bruckner's monumental 8th Symphony in C minor at 8 pm in St. Johannis Church in Würzburg. Admission is free, donations will be collected at the exit for the "Regenbogen" paediatric cancer ward at Würzburg University Hospital.
The concert is part of the AO+ alumni format, in which active and former members of the orchestra perform together.
This is the third time that the orchestra has performed one of Bruckner's great works with this line-up. After the 5th Symphony (2022) and the 7th Symphony (2024), the focus is now on the 8th - a work full of contrasts, depth and tonal opulence.
The performance in St. Johannis Church emphasises the spiritual dimension of the work, which musically reflects Bruckner's deep piety. Particularly impressive: the use of four Wagner tubas, which lend the brass a warm, full-bodied character. Admission is from 19:30.
About the Academic Orchestra
Founded in 1954, the Academic Orchestra is made up of students from a wide range of faculties. Under the direction of Markus Popp, the ensemble prepares a challenging concert programme every semester, which is performed in Würzburg and at various venues in Franconia. The orchestra also organises university ceremonies such as the Foundation Festival or the University Association's Prizewinners' Festival Concert.
In addition, the Academic Orchestra regularly goes on international tours - most recently in the south of France in April 2025. There it performed at the end of the "Week of Franco-German Friendship" in Montpellier.
