Whether one loves it or hates it, the summer Salzburg Festival remains one of the most important events in classical music. Ever since the hotly contested mandate of Gérard Mortier, the festival has opened up to artists and repertoire often neglected in the past. Ticket and hotel reservations are booked well in advance and are expensive.
The Salzburg Festival pursues the phrase "for love is as strong as death" from the Song of Solomon in its operas, concerts and theater performances in 2008.
Of the seven opera premieres, the Festival will begin with Don Giovanni, conducted by Bertrand de Billy in a production by Claus Guth at the House for Mozart. Othello, Verdi's last dramatic opera, and a repeat performance of The Magic Flute from the 2006 Mozart Year will be conducted by Riccardo Muti. Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón will perform in Charles Gounod's Roméo et Juliette. The opera stage will also feature: Rusalka by Antonin Dvorák and Béla Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle.
Concerts and solo recitals include the Vienna Philharmonic, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Cleveland Orchestra under Franz Welser-Möst and the Simón Bolívar Youth Orchestra of Venezuela, conducted by young Gustavo Dudamel, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Matthias Goerne, Leif-Ove Andsnes, Ian Bostridge, Mitsuko Uchida, Thomas Quasthoff, András Schiff, Christine Schäfer, Ingo Metzmacher, Hagen Quartett, Maurizio Pollini, Grigory Sokolov, Daniel Barenboim, Lang Lang, Torsten Schönfeld, Arcadi Volodos, Christian Tetzlaff, Krystian Zimerman, Vadim Repin, Nikolai Lugansky among others.
The Continents series is dedicated to the Sicilian composer Salvatore Sciarrino, born in 1947.
Salzburger Festspiele Web Site
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