After power comes the passion «DiePresse.com

Salzburg . Contemplative, pbadionate about Penderecki and Beethoven's oratorio, the Salzburg Festival started in 2018. With a budget of more than 60 million euros, it is the largest Austrian company, the most prestigious in terms of Artistic appeal. 206 performances on 18 sites are planned until August 30th. Spiritual life was also on the agenda on Sunday evening: Hugo von Hofmannsthal's "Jedermann", since the foundation of the festival in 1920, has become an absolute bestseller, if not synonymous with Salzburg. This "Death Game of the Rich Man" accords particularly well with the leitmotiv of 2018: The pbadion in its multiple sense, from suffering to pbadion to ecstasy.

The Miracle of Mozart

How did we get to this point after power issues were dealt with the year before? Is there a link? Markus Hinterhäuser, who returned to Salzburg in 2017 as artistic director of the Wiener Festwochen, says: "The works we are showing this year are about power constellations that are not related to the system. Where power is much harder to tame because it feeds elsewhere, it feeds it unsystematically. It bursts, it has to do with obsessive parameters. The fact that the magic flute is about to begin is a deliberate decision. It could act as a kind of microscope in which the miracle of Mozart becomes clear, that balance of all the antagonistic powers, that light and the darkness of the night, the rationality and the madness. "

Spiritual Prelude

The Spiritual Openness, the sacred music series accompanying the Festival, already presented under the direction of Alexander Pereira, Director of the Festival from 2012 to 2014. Hinterhäuser s & # 39; is engaged in this "very valuable series at the Salzburg Festival, which I like to program with Florian Wiegand and which arouses the greatest interest among the public. It will also be the 100th year. "But what about the discussion that the program will be overloaded?" We are on the same scale as the festival, "says the art director.This could also be clearly recognized by the response of the filmmaker. audience. "However, it should not be much bigger."

Heuer prevails in any case opulence, comparable to the first season 2017 of Hinterhauser, which at 195 performances a space utilization of 97 percent yields: In the opera (38 performances) there are five new productions in 2018 Monteverdi in Henze), two concerting performances, a revival of the festival at Pentecost.The drama (58 performances) presents four new productions (d & # 39; 39 Aeschylus in Grossman) and the revival of "Jedermann", renewed last year, as well as three researches, films and readings, and the sumptuous concerts: 89, plus a gala evening and a children's program.
The presidency Helga Rabl-Stadler sees the best financial prospects because of "exceptional ticket sales". But now comes the big but. All the first ones are still at the stage of sampling. And it is not yet clear what additional costs will come. With a bit of luck, we will exceed the budget objective of ticket sales.

General rehabilitation of the giant project

What to do with the planned surplus? "We need it for the gigantic general and safe technical renovation project of the Great Festival Hall." Despite all the great artistic and economic success, money is not enough to lift future building measures from their own resources . "Fortunately, all members of the Board are aware of this – the Great Festival Hall was opened in 1960. There are, surprisingly, large rooms that have never had to be renovated before." Now, however, new security rules must be respected. This is not only important for the festival, as there would be more "foreign events" than theirs: "Mozart Week, Easter Festival, Cultural Association, Advent Song" – it's a house for Salzburg. "

("Die Presse", printed edition, 23.07.2018)