Description
(Text)
Aki Nuredini's Italian restaurant SOLE in Annagasse in Vienna has an excellent reputation, especially among musicians - one could almost say: excellent resonance. Everything is melodic here: the harmonious architecture by Johannes Spalt, the classic dishes in harmonic tones on the menu and the padrone himself - a proven concert and opera fan, but above all: 'padre', a father figure for all the singers, directors, stage producers and of course the music-loving audiences of the nearby temples of the muses, the State Opera, Musikverein and Konzerthaus.This richly illustrated volume offers, as antipasti and dolci, as it were, insights into the padrone's biography and his influence on local history in Vienna as well as into the history of Annagasse. The main course is made up of sustaining ingredients from Vienna's musical life: composed of role debuts and refusals, premieres, reprises, quotations from artists, which - in retrospect - are often a cause for amused amazement in today's reader ...
(Table of content)
Introductory greetings from the Director of the Vienna State Opera Instead of a foreword An aperitif with the padrone A vibrant, positive place A mediator in Austro-Albanian relations Annagasse - local history Täuberlhof in Annagasse Nuredini - the escape artist My friend from across the road Time line of Vienna's classical music scene 1983-2013 Excerpts from SOLE's guestbook With guest contributions byThomas AngyanThomas DänemarkKurt HaslingerMaximilian HofingerFriedrich KurrentAndreas Mailath-PokornyArnold MettnitzerDominique MeyerKarlheinz RoschitzMeinhard RüdenauerClaudia SchmiedHeinz SichrovskyMichael SpindeleggerChristoph Wagner-Trenkwitz
(Extract)
A Home for Artists from all over the WorldIn the heart of Vienna, not far from the Ringstraße and at an equal distance between the State Opera and the Musikverein, there is a charming little alleyway - Annagasse. Built in genuine Baroque style and neither even nor straight, it winds peacefully past the façades of town houses from the 17th and 18th century. St Anna's Church stands roughly halfway down the alley, and its bells still ring for passers-by as they used to for Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven or Schubert. Opposite the church, you can find the restaurant Sole, which has become a home from home for musicians and singers performing in Vienna. Zubin Mehta is a regular, as are Mariss Jansons, Daniel Barenboim and Franz Welser-Möst, and it is not unusual to find Anna Netrebko, Plácido Domingo, Nina Stemme or Ramón Vargas eating here. Thanks to the legendary hospitality of Sole's founder and owner, Aki Nuredini, and that of his team, Sole is the restaurant of choice for artists from the whole world over. They love to meet up there, to relax after a concert or a performance, to chat about new projects or quite simply to enjoy a plate of delicious pasta - in evenings that now and then can go on until the small hours of the morning. That's when peace and quiet gradually return to the beautiful Baroque street. Soon, however, the guests will be back again, for everyone knows, in Sole -You'll never eat alone!Dominique MeyerDirector of the Vienna State Opera
