Playful Wit with Serious Undertones in the Salzburg Festival’s Falstaff Production

The first rehearsals for Verdi’s Falstaff in Damiano Michieletto’s production took place already during the spring. The production has its premiere on July 29 at the Haus für Mozart. With his last work, the almost 80-year-old Verdi fulfilled his own urgent wish to compose one last comic opera. Under this comedy’s playful surface, serious topics like social exclusion, age and ageing are revealed. We offer you an insight into the director’s work – watch our rehearsal video and peek behind the scenes…

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Die Entführung aus dem Serail - from Salzburg’s Hangar-7 Salzburg

The Salzburg Festival and ServusTV present an extraordinary novelty in an unusual venue. The Festival’s Artistic Director, Alexander Pereira, has announced this production of Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio at Salzburg’s Hangar-7 as “an opera marching to a different drummer”. It takes place as part of a live broadcast on Monday, August 26, 2013 at 8:15 pm on ServusTV.

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Roses: Theme of the 2013 Salzburg Festival Ball

With the first Festival Ball in 2012, the Festival hearkened back to Max Reinhardt’s traditions, reviving a hallmark, an artistic and social highlight of the Salzburg Festival season. After the great success last year, when Festival stars and international guests enjoyed the Ball, there will be a few innovations for the second edition on August 31, 2013. However, we can reveal this year’s theme to you: roses!

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Experience the Mariinsky Ballet in Le Sacre du printemps

Le Sacre du printemps is featured in no less than two productions at this year’s Whitsun Festival. On the one hand, it is the focus of the exhibit re-rite – You are the Orchestra; on the other, it is the highlight of the programme point SpringSACRIFICE, featuring the Mariinsky Ballet. Experience Igor Stravinsky’s impressive score and its archaic rhythms on two occasions at the Großes Festspielhaus under the baton of Valery Gergiev.

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Storms of Applause after Norma Premiere

Vincenzo Bellini’s Norma staged by Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier, conducted by Giovanni Antonini with Cecilia Bartoli in the title role: all this and more made the audience’s hearts beat quicker at yesterday’s Norma premiere! The guests thanked the artists and team with extensive applause between scenes and several minutes of curtain calls.

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Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award 2013: The Winner for 2013 is Ben Gernon

Ben Gernon from Great Britain, aged 23, convinced the international jury chaired by Ingo Metzmacher during the Award Concert Weekend at the Felsenreitschule by performing works by Peter Maxwell Davies, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Ludwig van Beethoven with the Camerata Salzburg.

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Introducing Antonio Méndez, the Third Finalist of the Young Conductors Award

And finally, we introduce you to the remaining finalist, Antonio Méndez from Spain, who will conduct the Munich Radio Orchestra with soloist Sebastian Manz at the Felsenreitschule on May 12, 2013 at 11:00 am. He has also provided us with interesting answers to several questions.

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Questions for the Second Finalist of the Young Conductors Award – Yu Lu

The second finalist of the Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award is Yu Lu from China. Read here what the finale and music in general mean to him. Yu Lu will conduct the Mozarteum Orchestra with soloist Vilde Frang on May 11, 2013 at 8:00 pm.

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Opening of the Exhibit re-rite – You are the Orchestra

Tomorrow is the big day – the long-awaited exhibit re-rite – You are the Orchestra opens at the Rauchmühle in Salzburg, as part of the Whitsun Festival. The Philharmonia Orchestra and its conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen give a whole new shape to Le Sacre du printemps as an interactive performance. Join them on this virtual journey and experience the piece from a musician’s perspective!

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In Conversation with the First of Three Finalists of the Young Conductors Award – Ben Gernon

On May 10, 11 and 12, the Award Concert Weekend for the Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Awards takes place at the Felsenreitschule. Here, we introduce you to the three finalists. We have asked them about themselves, their musical development, their love for music and the final round they are facing. Three subsequent blogs will give you an impression of Ben Gernon, Yu Lu and Antonio Méndez. We start out with Ben Gernon from Great Britain, who will lead the first concert of the Award Concert Weekend on May 10, 2013 at 8:00 pm, featuring the Camerata Salzburg and Sophie Pacini as piano soloist.

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PoliticalSACRIFICE and SpringSACRIFICE in Focus

The leitmotif “Sacrifice” is the overarching motto of the 2013 Whitsun Festival. Etymologically, the German word Opfer, or sacrifice, is derived from the Latin offerre, which is also the root of Offertorium – the moment during mass when wine and bread, symbols of Christ’s sacrifice, are brought to the altar. The themes of redemption and hope, of sacrifice and the sacrificed have inspired great artists to create innumerable musical works. Now the Whitsun Festival brings together some of these great works on stage. 

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Save the Date - Award Concert Weekend - May 10-12, 2013

3 young conductors present 3 concerts with 3 soloists at the Felsenreitschule

Once again, the three finalists of the “Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award” will have the opportunity to conduct one concert at the Felsenreitschule featuring one of the three partner orchestras and a young soloist.

The 29-year-old Spaniard Antonio Méndez, 23-year-old Ben Gernon from Great Britain and 23-year-old Yu Lu from China were selected from 82 applicants by the jury of this year’s “Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award”, chaired by Ingo Metzmacher.

On May 10, 11 and 12, the three conductors present themselves to the public during the Award Concert Weekend, leading the Camerata Salzburg, the Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg and the Munich Radio Orchestra in programmes of their choosing.

The initiative’s goal is to give highly talented young artists a decisive impulse for their further career. The award derives additional attractiveness from the public presentations of this weekend, featuring three young soloists who are winners of internationally renowned competitions.

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The first rehearsals for Verdi's "Falstaff" in Salzburg

Anyone walking into the orchestra rehearsal space at Schüttkasten around Eastertide was greeted by a pre-taste of the summer’s Festival atmosphere: from March 20 to April 6, the first rehearsals for Verdi’s Falstaff took place here for the premiere on July 29 at the Haus für Mozart. Before rehearsals resume at the end of June, the Italian stage director Damiano Michieletto also makes his debut at La Scala Milan with Un ballo in maschera – making this a Verdi year for him too.

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“re-rite – Be the Orchestra”

Who wouldn’t like to be part of the orchestra for once? Take part (virtually) in Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring! This will be possible in May 2013, when the Salzburg Whitsun Festival presents Esa-Pekka Salonen’s and the Philharmonia Orchestra’s multi-media, interactive installation re-rite – You are the Orchestra in Salzburg. Exactly 100 years after the world premiere of Le Sacre du printemps, this installation will bring one of the most exciting works in musical history to Salzburg’s audiences in a completely new way. Follow every note of the strings, keep a close watch on the solo trumpeter’s fingers, beat the drum or lift the baton yourself!

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Reopening of Muza Hall in Kawasaki in the Presence of the Directorate

The Salzburg Festival contributed the proceeds of a benefit dress rehearsal to the reconstruction of this world-famous concert hall.

The bells of Salzburg Cathedral, previously recorded, tolled for the reopening of Muza Hall, famed all over the world for its acoustics, today, Sunday, at 3:00 pm local time in Kawasaki. Under the baton of Hubert Soudant, the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra performed Anton Bruckner’s …

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Starting now: Buy your tickets directly online!

April 02 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. Even though ticket sales are brisk so far, there are still tickets left for the occasional performance. Please check our website, which will inform you about current availability of tickets.

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!

Intriguing Insights into the Production of "Lucio Silla"

Lucio Silla relates the story of the dictatorship of Lucius Cornelius Sulla Felix, a consul of the late Roman Republic, and his historically verified resignation. Together with his librettist Giovanni de Gamerra, the 16-year-old Wolfgang A. Mozart portrayed one of the most controversial and presumably most widely hated personalities in history.
You now have the opportunity to look behind the scenes, getting a first-hand look at the rehearsal progress and hearing what music director Marc Minkowski and stage director Marshall Pynkoski have to say about their work on the new production of this opera.

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Young Singers Tread the Red Carpet at MIDEM in Cannes

For the first time since the founding of the Salzburg Festival’s Young Singers Project six years ago, four of its young singers performed for the international audience of the world’s largest music trade-fair, midem, in Cannes. The Hungarian soprano Maria Celeng, the Italian mezzo-soprano Benedetta Mazzucato, the Austrian tenor Clemens Kerschbaumer and the Ukrainian baritone Yiuri Samoilov took their audience by storm during a recital in Cannes in the South of France, performing a total of seventeen arias by Handel, Hasse, Mozart, Mascagni, Massenet, Bizet, Rossini, Tchaikovsky, Britten and Verdi. 

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Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award 2013 - Three finalists have been announced

Out of 82 applicants, including 11 women, the jury of the “Nestlé and Salzburg Festival Young Conductors Award” chaired by Ingo Metzmacher has selected three conductors: the 29-year old Antonio Méndez from Spain, the 23-year old Ben Gernon from Great Britain and 23-year old Yu Lu from China. The three finalists will present themselves to the public on May 10, 11 and 12 during the Award Concert Weekend.

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Mozart’s Lucio Silla as a Musical Herald of the 2013 Festival Summer

Lucio Silla marks the fascinating point at which the child prodigy Mozart transformed himself into a mature composer. After Mitridate and Ascanio in Alba, this opera was his third commission from Milan – at the age of only 16. The co-production with the Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg has its premiere today as part of the Mozart Week and will be presented at the Salzburg Festival starting on July 27, 2013.

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Extend the Ball Season!

While the season’s complement of balls and dances is in full swing in Vienna, it finishes in the capital on Shrove Tuesday – in Salzburg, on the other hand, you can extend the ball season with a particularly festive night: since last year, the Salzburg Festival has its crowning finale in the Salzburg Festival Ball – taking place this year on August 31. Starting at 6:00 pm with a festive gala dinner at the Archiepiscopal Residence, it continues with a ceremonious march to the Felsenreitschule, where the official ball opens at 9:30 pm with the dance of 60 debutante couples. Furthermore, the event features a concert by some of the Festival’s exclusive stars.

Join us as we celebrate the highlight of the Festival, watch the debutantes glide through their opening dance and enjoy the wonderful backdrop of the Felsenreitschule – all through an unforgettably festive night!

Further information on the Second Festival Ball may be found in the following folder:

Simon Schwarz plays the Devil in the new production of Jedermann

The Austrian actor Simon Schwarz will be the new Devil on Cathedral Square when Jedermann takes the stage this summer. In the new production by Julian Crouch and Brian Mertes, Simon Schwarz will join Cornelius Obonya in the title role, Brigitte Hobmeier as the Lover and Peter Lohmeyer as Death, among others. Simon Schwarz has previously played opposite Cornelius Obonya in Kottan ermittelt – Rien ne va plus and in the film adaptation of the mystery Die Mutprobe by Lisa Lercher, among others.

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Ouverture spirituelle under the Sign of Buddhism

Last year, the newly-introduced concert series Ouverture spirituelle met with a most enthusiastic echo. In 2013, the Salzburg Festival will once again open with sacred music, and again, works by Catholic and Protestant composers will be juxtaposed with another religion – this time, it will be Buddhism, brought to you via traditional and recent music from Japan.

Our program guide offers an overview of all the events pertaining to the Ouverture spirituelle series: 

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Die Entführung aus dem Serail at Hangar-7 • A Very Special Opera Experience

On August 26, Hangar-7 at the Salzburg Airport will be transformed into an event location resounding with culture, when Mozart’s Die Entführung aus dem Serail, produced especially for TV viewers in coproduction with ServusTV, is broadcast live from there.

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