Salzburg
Easter Festival
In 2024, the Easter Festival will once again cause a sensation in the best sense of the word: since its foundation by Herbert von Karajan in 1967, the Easter Festival has been an integral part of international musical and cultural life. Its excellent and exclusive reputation far beyond the borders of the city of Salzburg is confirmed time and again, as it combines opera, choral and orchestral enjoyment at its best with top-class international soloists.The focus this year is on Ponchielli’s most famous opera "La Gioconda". The title roles in this tangle of love and intrigue feature prominently with Anna Netrebko, Jonas Kaufmann and Luca Salsi. Enjoy the festive Easter atmosphere and springtime on the Salzach, with Austrian hospitality!

Whitsun Festival
The Whitsun Festival, which has been in the artistic hands of Cecilia Bartoli since 2012, is dedicating 2024 to the city’s most famous son: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The complexity of his almost overwhelming musical legacy will be highlighted, from opera seria to piano and symphonic music to sacred choral music. You can look forward to the usual high-caliber cast: in addition to Cecilia Bartoli and "her" Les Musiciens du Prince - Monaco, you will be delighted by Sir Andràs Schiff and Daniil Trifonov on the piano, Gianluca Capuano and Paavo Järvi on the podium as well as Elena Stikhina, Sonya Yoncheva, Plácido Domingo and many more.

Summer FestivalLiterary heavyweights, particularly from Eastern Europe, characterise the opera programme of the 2024 Summer Festival, which, according to Artistic Director Markus Hinterhäuser, is dominated by revolting protagonists. Many of the works deal with the rejection of a world that currently "demands more from us than we want or are able to." After Strauss' concertante "Capriccio" at the opening of the festival, Mozart's "Don Giovanni", the free spirit par excellence, returns to the Großes Festspielhaus in a new production. Then things get more profound with Dostoyevsky's Prince Myshkin, who ultimately fails himself and humanity due to his kind-hearted nature - in Mieczysław Weinberg's "The Idiot", which is making its Salzburg premiere. The wonderful Lithuanian Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla conducts. Peter Sellars also serves up more Russian repertoire with a premiere production of Prokofiev's "The Gambler". These two Russian works are juxtaposed with two French works: "Les Contes d'Hoffmann" and "Hamlet", both exciting and with a top-class cast, garnished as always with the best orchestral fare and theatre, three milestone birthdays (Schönberg, Smetana and of course Bruckner) and with the very special flair of the festival days on the Salzach - you can look forward to concentrated musical highlights.