Tobi-Reiser Prize awarded

Two violin legends were celebrating after being awarded the Tobi-Reiser prize – handed out this year for the 21st time over the weekend.

Folk music legends Rudolf Pietsch and Hermann Härtel were awarded the prize for “bringing back the violin as a central instrument in folk music after a long period of absence”.

The Tobi-Reiser prize of 3,700 Euros is given out every year and is supported by the friends of the Salzburger Adventsingers – itself an annual event in the city of Salzburg which attracts about 40,000 visitors.

Tobi Reiser who was born in 1907 in St. Johann im Pongau and died in 1974 was a famous Austrian folk musician involved in the establishment of the Salzburger Adventsingers.

The prize was sponsored by the Stiegl Brewery.

Pictured with the pair are Günther Auer (Verein der Freunde des Salzburger Adventsingens), Hans Köhl (Heimatwerk), Walter Deutsch (Volksliedwerk) und “Trachtenschneider” Alfons Schneider.