Ambassade Orchester Wien

Das Ambassade Orchester Wien is an ensemble specializing in light music, especially that of Johann Strauss. It is a privately organized ensemble put together by a group of younger members of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. The VSO was founded in 1900 as the city's only full-time concert symphony orchestra. (The somewhat more prestigious Vienna Philharmonic is actually a part-time concert orchestra of members of the Vienna State Opera Orchestra.) The VSO has several programs and music series, including smaller formations of its members, such as the Johann Strauss Ensemble and the Vienna Instrumental Soloists (Wiener Instrumentalsolisten). The Ambassade Orchestra was organized by VSO members who, though young, were already established and experienced instrumental soloists and chamber music players, both locally and on the international stage. Using the traditional seating of a Johann Strauss band, the Ambassade Orchestra applies its members' virtuoso qualities to producing joyful and entertaining music. Its repertoire encompasses the period from Mozart through Johann Strauss II, and includes favorite melodies from operettas. The Ambassade Orchestra plays regular light classic concerts and musical evenings, but also has programs with stories and background of the Strauss epoch, including other arts, science, and technology of the era. (The Strauss Brothers' compositions are often related to technological marvels of the Industrial Age, including dynamos, locomotives, pleasure train excursions, the telegraph, etc.) The ensemble's conductor is Christian Schultz, born in 1967 and a graduate of the Vienna Academy of Music in cello and conducting. He debuted as a soloist at the Vienna Musikverein in 1986 and has been a member of the Vienna Volksoper Orchestra. He was a soloist of the Opera Ball Orchestra, as well as a member of the Vienna Symphony's Johann Strauss Ensemble. He has been a member of the Vienna Symphony since 1993.