Salzburg festival hall, a world temple in the sound of music
Many of opera’s most celebrated voices have soared and resonated in its highly acclaimed acoustics, yet the creation of the historic auditorium at the Salzburg Festival was a tall order 60 years ago. Only just free of the post-World War II occupying forces that left in 1955 and still in ruins, Austria set its sights firmly on culture, turning former episcopal stables into the Large Festival Hall (“Grosses Festspielhaus”) as a symbol of renewal.
Since then, the stage has seen the likes of Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti but festival president Helga Rabl-Stadler said: “It’s a pure miracle however that this hall saw the light of day.” On the sidelines of rehearsals for “Don Giovanni” topping the line-up at the prestigious annual summer event this year, Rabl-Stadler said that the Austrian state had managed to stump up “an enormous sum” in 1956 to get the flagship initiative off the ground.
At the time, the city’s music and theatre festival, established in 1920 as a peace project in the aftermath of World
War I, was held in more modest neighborhoods that backed onto the steep cliffs that overlook the old town. Workers had to dynamite 50,000 cubic meters of rock in order to erect the new hall’s 100meter-wide stage, while the auditorium holds more than 2,000 people. Five imposing bronze doors provide streetlevel entry into a foyer and hall adorned with wood paneling, frescoes, mosaics, sculptures and tapestries.
‘Intimidating, yet intimate’
But it is “its truly wonderful acoustics” that give the Large Festival Hall its special aura, says Austrian maestro Franz Welser-Moest, who is conducting another of this year’s five opera productions, Richard Strauss’ “Elektra”. “Going on stage, it feels like a place of intimidating proportions, and yet it allows for an incredible sound intimacy,” he added. “The softest sounds travel in a way that allows even the farthest away listener to experience them very directly.”
Rabl-Stadler said the technical director of Paris’ famed Bastille Opera had remarked with surprise that such good acoustics had been possible in the 1960s. So, it is not without some trepidation that newcomers take their place in the festival hall spotlight, conscious of all the great names who have gone before them, as was the case for Welser-Moest who admitted he’d been “very nervous” on his first appearance as conductor there in 1989.
The passion and anticipation among Salzburg Festival audiences, he said, made it feel like participating in the Olympic Games for performers. “You’re pitting yourself against the best of the best,” he told AFP in an interview. But the role of the festival is also to look ahead and help the talents set to shape the music of the future to blossom, stressed artistic director Markus Hinterhaeuser. And this year’s performance of the “Everyman” play, written by one of the festival’s original founders Hugo von Hofmannsthal and staged every year here since, will be in high heels, as it questions the identity of gender.
‘Transcending nations’
Despite the coronavirus pandemic, some 220,000 tickets for the Salzburg Festival, which runs until August 31, have been sold, costing anywhere between five and 445 euros (six and 524 dollars) - although half were under 105 euros. With a 60-million-euro budget, a quarter of which is state funding, more than 150 events are planned over nearly seven weeks.
Months of work has gone into crafting the masks for “Don Giovanni”, the opera by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart being staged in the composer’s home town by Italian director Romeo Castellucci. Milliners have created the headwear and costume makers carried out umpteen fittings.
“Striving for a common goal, all these people coming from different continents, is an immense task,” said Rabl-Stadler, who is due to bow out as president later this year after more than 25 years. “In 1920, the founders planned a world artistic center on Austrian soil transcending nations,” she said. “Maybe that’s what we’ve done, a little bit.”
The mercurial Kanye West has previewed his 10th studio album “Donda” at an arena listening event - but characteristically blew past Friday’s expected release without officially dropping the record. The artist, 44, arrived nearly two hours late to the sold-out listening session at an Atlanta stadium, which was announced just days prior, performing without a mic as his children and ex-wife Kim Kardashian looked on.
The album is named for the rapperproducer’s mother, who died in 2007, and it appeared the content continued to explore religious themes, along with references to his high-profile split from Kardashian. It notably featured a verse from Jay-Z, along with contributions from Travis Scott, Pusha T, Lil Baby and the late Pop Smoke.
“Hold up, Donda, I’m with your baby when I touch back road / told him stop all of that red cap, we goin’ home,” raps Jay-Z, an apparent reference to West’s one-time backing of former president Donald Trump, whose supporters wear red baseball hats. Prior to Thursday’s event, West previewed the song “No Child Left Behind,” in a Beats by Dre commercial starring American sprinter Sha’ Carri Richardson during Tuesday’s NBA Finals Game.
According to social media clues and media reports, it appears the album remains a work on progress, with West tinkering in the hours leading up to the listening session and the night after. As of Friday midday, there was no clear time for when fans could expect the record. It’s a familiar pattern. “Jesus Is King” - West’s 2019 Grammy-winning Christian album - was finally dropped at random after missing several planned release times.
On the acclaimed “The Life of Pablo”, perfectionist West continued to tweak his work even after it was already officially streaming. West had teased a “Donda” like album a year ago, around the time he launched an independent presidential bid. He ultimately received 60,000 votes across 12 states in which he managed to get on the ballot.
Months later, Kardashian filed for divorce, ending one of the world’s most recognizable couple’s nearly decadelong marriage. But it appears West has been busy, and not only with his own album: This week, the performer Lil Nas X released the West-produced track “Industry Baby”. — AFP