Blog entries

Of Historic Tapestries and Musical Pilgrimages

For the first time, the 2012 Salzburg Festival will open with an Ouverture spirituelle. The idea was sparked by the city itself: with its beautiful churches, it inspired us to devote more attention to liturgical works again. Masterworks of sacred music await you!

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When sacred music meets percussion and dragons meet klezmer – then you know it’s the Festival Opening Party!

On Friday, July 20 and Saturday, July 21, 2012, the Salzburg Festival celebrates not only the beginning of its Ouverture spirituelle and the Jedermann premiere, but all signals are set for cultural enjoyment and boundless diversity! The 33^rd Festival Opening Party features a dazzling array of extremely different artists at 30 performance venues. Program highlights from various genres await all the citizens of Salzburg and their guests. Come be enchanted, sampling music, literature and of course culinary delights, and celebrate the beginning of the 2012 Salzburg Festival with a mind-boggling party!

For the first time, our guests from abroad will find two English-language events on Saturday: a guided tour of the exhibit Einmal Unterwelt und zurück at 10:30 am at the Residenzgalerie Salzburg, as well as the ingenious comedian John van der Put’s show at republic at 2:30 pm.

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The Triumph of an Epochal Work • Die Soldaten by Bernd Alois Zimmermann

Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s opera Die Soldaten, which had its world premiere in Cologne in 1965, is often mentioned in the same breath as Alban Berg’s Wozzeck. Both works share the same high compositional standard, and their protest against violence and perfidy as well as their belief in human dignity send a humane and timeless message. Zimmermann’s stage work, one of the outstanding creations of modern musical theater, provides a characteristic accent in the opera program of this year’s festival. Staged by Alvis Hermanis, featuring a crowd of first-rate soloists and the Vienna Philharmonic under the baton of Ingo Metzmacher, it will see five performances at the Felsenreitschule – an appropriate location for a work that easily transcends the boundaries of a normal picture-frame stage.

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New Start for a Time-Honored Publication: The Salzburg Festival Almanac Published by the Festival Itself for the First Time

The Salzburg Festival Almanac has existed for 45 years. What began in 1967 as an initiative of the legendary publisher Wolfgang Schaffler went through various incarnations throughout the history of his publishing house, the Residenz Verlag. In 2012, the Festival Almanac is self-published by the Festival for the first time, offering more backstage insights than ever before. 

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Free Rides to the Salzburg Festival!

The Salzburg Festival is about to begin, your tickets are sitting on the dresser and your gala outfit is hanging in your wardrobe, freshly ironed. The only remaining question is the best way of getting to the performance venue? Anyone wanting to avoid traffic jams and the search for a parking space, traveling instead towards the enjoyment of the Festival’s offerings without worries or stress, can take public transportation – for once again, your Festival tickets are valid for free transportation within the City of Salzburg.

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Consecration of the Festival’s Newly Restored Open-Air Organ in Toscaninihof

1925 Construction of the organ
1938 Extension into an open-air organ
1963 Relinquishment
2012 Revival, thanks to Senator DDr. Herbert Batliner 

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Javier Pérez – The Carousel of Time

With his installation The Carousel of Time, which Javier Pérez has created for the Karl-Böhm-Saal, the Spanish artist responds to an invitation by the Salzburg Festival to enter into an artistic dialogue with Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s opera Die Soldaten, which is being produced at the Felsenreitschule for the 2012 season.

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Festival Ball: Casinos Austria Invites Guests to Play

At the first Salzburg Festival Ball in 2012, the pleasure of gambling shall not be neglected. On the balcony of the Karl-Böhm-Saal, a gambling corner will be set up by Casinos Austria. Dame Fortune can be challenged in American roulette or blackjack. 

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Festive Opening Ceremony of the Salzburg Festival on July 27

Austria’s Federal President Heinz Fischer, Landeshauptfrau Gabi Burgstaller and Festival President Helga Rabl-Stadler officially opened the 2012 Salzburg Festival today, July 27, 2012 at 11:00 am at the Felsenreitschule. Read the Festival’s keynote address by Peter von Matt here.

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The Italian Soprano Fiorenza Cedolins will Perform Today instead of Barbara Frittoli

At today’s open-air benefit concert with the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, the Italian soprano Fiorenza Cedolins will sing instead of Barbara Frittoli. Under the baton of Zubin Mehta, Fiorenza Cedolins and Plácido Domingo will perform arias and duets by Ludwig van Beethoven, Umberto Giordano, Giuseppe Verdi, Nicolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Franz Lehár, Giacomo Puccini, Wolfgang A. Mozart, Pablo Sorozábal and Antonín Dvořák.

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