Salzburg – The City as a Stage . . .
Salzburg is the place to be, as the world-famous festival begins.
What a wonderful time of the year to be in Salzburg. The whole city is transforming into one giant stage as the exquisite Salzburg Festival begins this weekend. It is such a treat to be part of the hustle and bustle surrounding the Festival. On Friday and Saturday, everyone can take advantage of the Celebration of the Opening of the Salzburg Festival. Once again, there will be 80 events taking place at 30 different locations. I am always spoilt for choice as to which of these events I should go to, as there are piano and violin concerts, plays, recitals and music on every corner – absolutely free of charge. I find this very generous of Salzburg and the Festival to offer such events for people who weren’t lucky enough to get a ticket for the Salzburg Festival or for those who couldn’t afford them.
Last year it was scorching in the city and tourists were using their umbrellas to shelter themselves from the sun. Unfortunately, the weather forecast doesn’t look as good for this weekend – but the atmosphere in the city will still be amazing. Apart from these free events, locals and tourists alike can enjoy the open-air performances at the Siemens "Festspiel-Nächte" where Festival highlights, both old and new, are shown on a huge screen in Kapitalplatz. No other European city, that I know of, offers anything quite so special and spectacular – without charging a cent. A marvellous opportunity to enjoy culture beneath the skies, right next to the cathedral with views of the Hohensalzburg fortress. Weather permitting, we can all be part of the Salzburg Festival.
As every year, fans from all over the world come to Salzburg to enjoy what has been described as the greatest and most important festival in the world. This year they can look forward to Mozart, Strauss, Tchaikovsky and The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, to name but a few, all under the direction of the festival’s artistic director, Markus Hinterhäuser. There are 206 performances on offer during the 42-day event and there are still a few tickets left for some performances.
It goes without saying, that tickets for Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s famous stage play "Everyman" are as scarce as hens’ teeth. The popular morality stage play, when a rich man is confronted with his own death, has been performed over 650 times in almost a century, and is considered the Salzburg Festival’s flagship event. Not everyone knows that "Jedermann" is based on an English mystery play "Everyman" and dates back to the 16th century. As in the popular 2017 production, Tobias Moretti will play the lead role and Stefanie Reinsperger his Paramour. I have seen this unique performance many times and still get goose pimples when I hear death calling "Jedermann" from Mönchsberg and the bells of the city ring out to mark the play’s closing moments.
Needless to say, many locals will complain about the thousands of tourists blocking the narrow streets of this beautiful, Baroque city. We can expect terrible traffic jams for the next five weeks – maybe worse than previous years, due to the fact that there are going to be more controls at the German/Austrian border. Coaches carrying thousands of tourists will block the city and pollute the air and you can be sure that someone’s navigation device will guide them directly into the pedestrian zone – but it is the same procedure every year.
In my opinion, the advantages of having the amazing Salzburg Festival right here on our doorstep, far outweigh the above-mentioned disadvantages.
So, let the Festival begin . . .