Blog entries

March 30 is the start-date: Buy your tickets directly online!

March 30 is the start-date for our general ticket sales. Starting immediately, you can buy your Festival tickets online, with the unique opportunity to check the sightlines of your selected seat. On January 9, pre-sales for the 2012 season had already exceeded expectations. “The positive reports about ticket sales so far, however, should not create the false impression that there are no tickets left. Our website gives you a current overview of available tickets. Just give it a try,” says Festival president Helga Rabl-Stadler.

Blogs, podcasts and videos already allow you to follow current preparations for the Festival season. Join us in looking forward to a fascinating Festival summer!

Zimmermann’s Opera "Die Soldaten" – Passions Far Removed from Full Dress Uniforms

The realization of Bernd Alois Zimmermann’s monumental work Die Soldaten is one of the central opera productions of the upcoming Festival summer. We spoke to costume designer Eva Dessecker about her collaboration with stage director Alvis Hermanis and her passion for historical costumes that are accurate down to the last detail.

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Daniel Harding to conduct Ariadne auf Naxos instead of Riccardo Chailly

Because of health problems occurring over the past months, Riccardo Chailly’s doctors have advised him to take longer breaks between individual projects. The Salzburg Festival is happy to have engaged Daniel Harding, who led both Don Giovanni and Le nozze di Figaro at the Salzburg Festival during recent years, in Chailly’s stead as the conductor for the new production of Ariadne auf Naxos. However, Chailly will conduct the Gewandhaus Orchestra on August 30, 2012 in Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 6 in A-Minor.

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Festival Ball: First Glimpses of the Preparations

On September 1, 2012, the instruction “Alles Tanz!” (“All Dance!”) will ring out for the first time at the Salzburg Festival. “A grand gala dinner at Salzburg’s Residenz will precede the ball at the Felsenreitschule. There, great Festival stars will give a brief concert before the ceremonious opening, featuring the opening dance of the debutantes in traditional Salzburg costumes. Please mark September 1 on your calendars as a must,” said Artistic Director Alexander Pereira.

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Cleopatra and the Snake

This year’s Salzburg Whitsun Festival is dominated by Queen Cleopatra. The great Russian composer Rodion Shchedrin has been commissioned to write a work about this mythical figure. His narration combines old and new elements, is inspired by Shakespeare and allows Anna Netrebko to sing in her mother tongue. The mini-opera offers a universal story, replete with grand drama and fresh text. Brigitte Kempen (Opernglas) met Rodion Shchedrin in Munich, to learn more about this upcoming world premiere.

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A Much-Desired Carmen

Georges Bizet’s opera Carmen is not only one of the most-performed, but also one of the most popular operas on the Salzburg program this coming summer. Gabrielle Dalton, the costume designer for this co-production with the Easter Festival, has been coming to Salzburg regularly during the past months to prepare the production. She recently talked to us about her work.

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Positive interim result: increase of 20% compared to the previous year

January 9, 2012 was the deadline for ticket orders for the 2012 Salzburg Festival. The positive interim result is an increase of 20% compared to the previous year. The ideas of Artistic Director Alexander Pereira are finding open ears. “The extension of our programming has been fully accepted. I am especially gratified that the Ouverture spirituelle, the opening of the Salzburg Festival with a week of sacred music, has met with such broad interest,” Alexander Pereira said.

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Faust I+II and an Alvis Hermanis Production at the Berlin Theatertreffen

The Salzburg Festival is pleased that Nicolas Stemann’s nine-hour production of Faust I + II, a 2011 co-production of the Salzburg Festival and the Thalia Theater Hamburg, has been invited to this year’s Theatertreffen in Berlin (May 4-20, 2012). The piece will be revived at the Berliner Festspiele – as one of the ten most remarkable productions of the season.

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Welcome to an exceptional challenge – Roche Continents from August 11-17, 2012

100 students of science, music and fine arts from across Europe are invited to spend a week in Salzburg during the world-famous Salzburg Festival. We invite you to join us for the next Roche Continents 2012.

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News from the Dance Floor - Debutante Couples Wanted!

In our blog, we will report from time to time on the preparations for the first Salzburg Festival Ball. On September 1, 2012, the motto will be “All Dance!” at the Lord Archbishop’s Residence and at the Felsenreitschule. Debutante couples are still being recruited for the ceremonious opening of the ball. Interested in applying?

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