Linz Europa Tour West In a two phase tour, Austrian musician Hubert von Goisern spends a number of months at a time on a ship convoy: travelling first to the Black Sea, and then to the North Sea. To accomplish this comprehensive European cultural project, Goisern collaborates jointly with 2009 Capital of Culture Europe. Music is the focal point of the Linz Europe Tour 2007-2008 and a “patchwork quilt” of European culture. Its regional characteristics and distinctiveness will be displayed from all foreshores during the 12.000 kilometre stretch of the trip. One of the ships, a barge manufactured by Brandner Shipping, has been completely converted and fitted to function as a floating stage for the Linz Europa Tour 2007-2008. The stage is equipped with a sound system for up to 5,000 people. As during the 2007 journey east, the summer of 2008 will take the ship on a 10-week journey from Linz to Western Europe to operate as a musical and social laboratory. At each port along the way, Hubert von Goisern will invite the local artists to attend and participate in the concerts. The foremost emphasis of the 2007 trip was the journey eastward. From June to September 2007, the was explored from to the deltas of Romania, and on to the Ukraine. Concerts were held along the Danube in Austria, Germany and for free in Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovakia, and finally in the Ukraine. In the summer of 2008, the journey will take the crew westward to the Rhein-Main-Danube-Canal, Basil and . In 2009, the Linz harbour will be the setting for a large harbour festival under the motto “Back Home in Linz”. The artists with whom Hubert von Goisern met along his journeys and adventures along the rivers of Europe will come together at this festival. In the process, a many-voiced cargo will be unloaded from the barge: a Europe that has come closer together.

Date // June – September 08 Idea / Conception // Hubert von Goisern

Hubert von Goisern (born in Bad Goisern in 1952) is regarded as the founder of “alpine rock”. For over 15 years, he has successfully represented this pop cultural musical genre in the German- speaking regions. His projects and ideas advocate cultural exchange amongst musicians. With the will and capacity to creatively commit to his fellow musicians, he has organised diverse tours in collaboration with musicians the world over. He finds music all over the world and believes: we all live on the same planet with the same sky above us, only the perspective is different.