The Salzburg Festival is also one of the oldest in Europe, and rich with tradition. It was founded by a trio of artistic greats: director Max Reinhardt, composer Richard Strauss, and the poet Hugo von Hofmannsthal. As the First World War was coming to an end, the three men decided that the people were in need of a festival for the soul. So that is what they did – on August 22, 1920, Hofmannsthal's mystery, “Jedermann”, opened the Salzburg Festival; and so the festival continues up to the present day. Remarkably, a presentation of “Jedermann” in Cathedral Square (albeit usually freshly interpreted) is still a part of the festival's program. In fact, a ticket to see “Jedermann” is one of the most sought-after in the festival's extremely broad program of operas, concerts and theatrical plays.
The Salzburg Festival is especially proud of its opera program, which always features the world's greatest musicians and singers, not to mention the Vienna Philharmonic.
However, we must quickly add that events in which the musical and theatrical aspects promise to be of equal intrigue are rather small in number. One of these few is the new staging of Ludwig Van Beethoven's political opera, “Fidelio”. It is directed by Claus Guth, one of Germany's finest and most cerebral opera directors; the score is to be conducted by Franz Welser-Möst, and the lead tenor will be Jonas Kaufmann.
The second new production we believe is worth seeing is “Die Eroberung von Mexico / The Conquest of Mexico”, by German composer Wolfgang Rihm. Ingo Metzmacher will be conducting, and the opera's musical and staging direction has been interpreted and developed by the controversial German director, Peter Konwitschny. At the center of Rihm's opera is the act of coming into contact with “the foreign”, and then the mechanisms used to destroy “the foreign”. Rihm was inspired to write the opera after reading the poetically surreal text, “The Conquest of Mexico”, which was written in the 1930s by the most radical visionary of French theater of all time, Antonin Artaud. According to Artaud, theater is an anarchic, multi-sensual territory, free of any convictions relating to its artistic presentation. Artaud especially believed that theater was not responsible in holding any trust in language or a written script; the viewer is tied to the performance through the archaic power that has been unleashed through ritual.
Festival-goers will again have the opportunity to see Giuseppe Verdi's “Troubadour”, as produced by the Latvian director Alvis Hermanis. This “dream in a museum” will be performed by the opera superstars Anna Netrebko and Placido Domingo in the lead roles, and the score will be conducted by Gianandrea Noseda.
A unique musical event, albeit with conventional staging, will be Vincenzo Bellini's opera “Norma”, with the vibrant Italian mezzo-soprano, Cecilia Bartoli, in the title role.
The Latvian mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča will be performing at the Salzburg Festival again this year. Together with pianist Malcolm Martineau, she will be singing pieces by Johannes Brahms, Henri Duparc and Sergei Rachmaninoff.
The tightening of the budget for the Salzburg Festival can be most clearly seen in its theater program. One of the program's most interesting parts, the Young Directors Project, has been liquidated completely, and its anorexic replacement doesn't contain anything brightly promising. It is quite evident that the Salzburg Festival is slowly transforming into a music festival. www.salzburgfestival.at
