Despite the pandemic, the Festival for Opera, Music & Drama managed to impress as always on its 100th anniversary.
Every year again!
The Salzburg Festival is the world’s most important festival for opera, music and drama. 100 years of the festival were celebrated in 2020 and successfully continued in this year’s extended anniversary year. 163 performances in 46 days at 16 venues – despite the pandemic, the festival was held safely and successfully. With a space utilization of 91 percent – that’s a total of 227,062 cards issued.
One last, successful festival summer
Helga Rabl-Stadler is now finally giving up her job as long-term festival president. Rabl-Stadler’s chairmanship began in 1995 and will now end in 2021 with the second part of the 100th anniversary. She is very grateful to fate that she was able to help shape the festival for 27 seasons. “At the last weekend of the festival we can look forward to a triple success. We were able to hold safe festivals in times of pandemic. We have shown productions in operas, drama and concerts that are only possible under ideal conditions for rehearsals and performances at the Salzburg Festival, and we were able to post ticket receipts that exceeded all our hopes. For me personally, this rounds off my time at the festival perfectly. “- says Helga Rabl-Stadler.
Successful prevention concept
Despite the pandemic, the events were able to take place without capacity restrictions. The safety precautions in many areas were significantly stricter than the legal requirements. Among other things, there was a mask requirement in the backstage area and from July 20, FFP2 mask requirement in the spectator area. 3G also for children and adolescents from 6 years of age as well as a coordinated test system for employees and contributors. This strict prevention concept has proven to be successful because in the entire public area, among the proud 227,062 visitors, only two people were reported who, although they had valid 3G proof at the time of the visit, were subsequently tested positive. Fortunately, there were no follow-up infections among the other visitors in either case.
The program
he Salzburg Festival presented a varied program with 168 performances. Giacomo Puccini’s “Tosca”, Mozart’s “Don Giovanni and Strauss‘ “Elektra” were among some of the many operatic highlights. Puccini’s Tosca is an outstanding work in many ways, but this year’s line-up was also enthusiastic. The star soprano Anna Netrebko slips into the role of Tosca and at the side of her husband Yusif Eyvazov she charmed the audience.
In the play, “Jedermann” is presented with a new cast.
Lars Eidinger will succeed Tobias Moretti in 2021, who had already announced his departure. The Austrian Verena Altenberger occupies the new Buhlschaft. In addition to these two well-known roles, the festival also turns the rest of the ensemble upside down. Edith Clever plays the role of death. Angela Winkler plays Jedermann’s mother and for the first time the role of the devil is portrayed by a woman. Mavie Hörbiger now takes on this role.
This year’s concert program was also enthusiastic. The Vienna Philharmonic, the Mozarteum Orchestra, the Camerata Salzburg, Christian Thielemann, Franz Welser-Möst, Elīna Garanča and Daniel Barenboim are just a few of the highlights from the program. Riccardo Muti celebrated his 50th stage anniversary at the festival together with his 80th birthday. Song recitals, chamber and church concerts, the “Ouverture Spirituelle” and the Mozart matinees were further items on the program in summer 2021.
jung & jede*r
This year 62 events were organized at 30 venues under the title “young & everyone”. The Salzburg Festival is traveling “From Abtenau to Zell am See” and is showing six mobile productions for children and young people from the age of six in cooperation with local cultural associations and organizers. Schoolchildren experience the performance either directly in their own classroom, in the cultural center in their vicinity or on the stage in the Salzburg Museum. With a total of 62 performances at 30 venues and almost 1000 participating students from 54, the program encouraged the next generation to enjoy music and culture.
