When someone goes on a journey, they have a story to tell
What a beautiful story: In 1869, the Austrian Emperor Franz Josef travelled to Japan. On board was a Bösendorfer grand piano as a gift for the Japanese Emperor Meiji. Legend has it that a naval officer was allowed to play the instrument for the tenno - a first musical experience that cemented the friendship between the two countries.
As early as 1867, Bösendorfer achieved a success with a grand piano at the World Exhibition in Paris, which helped the company gain a worldwide reputation: Empress Elisabeth, herself the owner of a grand piano designed especially for her, presented Empress Eugenie with a grand piano designed by Theophil Hansen. Just eleven years later, this instrument is auctioned off at Sotheby's for the fabulous price of DM 400,000. From then on, Bösendorfer experienced an eventful history until 1973, when the 30,000th instrument, approved by the then Federal Chancellor Dr Bruno Kreisky, left the manufactory. This instrument, an Imperial concert grand, travelled to Japan three years after the first World Exhibition in Osaka in 1970.
Another 52 years later, there is a grand piano in the Austrian pavilion at EXPO 2025: a Bösendorfer grand piano with Enspire technology from Yamaha. In 2008, the Japanese group took over the traditional piano manufacturer, but the company continues to operate as an independent Austrian limited company. Enspire technology is regarded as an outstanding, high-quality recording tool. One such Bösendorfer grand piano with Enspire technology is currently on display at the Mozarteum University Salzburg as part of the EXPO and is being trialled by students and teachers. The ‘Juries in Competition’ piano competition with a Bösendorfer plus CEUS system at the Mozarteum University Salzburg attracted a great deal of attention back in 2019. The Enspire technology represents the next generation of technology and provides an astonishingly precise reproduction of the recorded music, ideally in real time worldwide. So a pianist could be playing in Salzburg and at the same time the twin grand piano is playing in the Austrian pavilion in Osaka. Here, traditional craftsmanship is combined with high-tech and the mutual appreciation of two countries meets in the past and present, in art and culture.
Small stories and incidents that combine to form a long, colourful narrative, a narrative that may be continued this year in Osaka. Because the EXPO offers far more than just an exhibition of the latest technologies. It is an invitation to scrutinise the guiding principle ‘Designing Future Society for Our Lives’ and to relate it to our own activities in Salzburg and around the world. The special motto of the Austrian presentation ‘Composing the Future’ also offers the Mozarteum University the opportunity to set outstanding artistic accents: in the musical design of the Austrian pavilion, with three live musical highlights in Osaka on the EXPO site, in Matsumoto and Nagoya, with recordings on the Bösendorfer Enspire grand piano in the first room of the pavilion. Twelve inter-university student tandems will be able to realise research travel projects at the EXPO in Osaka and the Salzburg University Conference will meet with colleagues from Japanese universities to discuss how universities are reflecting on the guiding principle of the EXPO and integrating it into their development concepts. EXPO is an invitation from the host country to engage with the transformative power of a journey. Over 150 countries from around the world will showcase their response to ‘Designing Future Society for Our Lives’. Salzburg's universities are taking a journey and will be able to tell their stories.
(First published in the Uni-Nachrichten / Salzburger Nachrichten on 15 March 2025)
