Zum Fest

Centenary Events

William Kentridge, *1955, Johannesburg / Südafrika · Drawing for Second-hand Reading, 2013/2019 © SF/Luigi Caputo

100 years young was to be the guiding motto for a packed programme of celebrations to mark the centenary of the Salzburg Festival in summer 2020. However, the pandemic intervened and led to the most momentous challenge that has faced our society since the end of World War II. Never before has cultural life been so severely restricted in democratic countries during times of peace. In light of the crisis, the Festival took the decision to realize a modified and shortened version of the centenary programme. As it did in its inaugural season 100 years ago, the Festival was able to set another bold example for the arts. The projects that could not take place in the 2020 centenary will now be realized in summer 2021 — thereby extending the Festival’s centennial season until autumn 2021.

Download the leporello “Zum Fest” here.

Yinka Shonibare CBE, The Bird Catcher’s Dilemma, 2019–2020, Courtesy of the artist and Stephen, Friedman Gallery, London, Photographer: Stephen White

At long last, culture for everyone again! Breathe in the Festival atmosphere with concerts by the Young Singers and the Concert Association of the Vienna State Opera Chorus. Attend the dress rehearsal of Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem with Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla conducting the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra & Chorus. See a sneak preview of Don Giovanni in a rehearsal with Teodor Currentzis and Romeo Castellucci or listen to chamber music ensembles from the Vienna Philharmonic such as Philharmonic Five and Plattform K+K Vienna. In addition, actors performing at this summer’s Festival invite youto selected readings. At the beginning of the Festival the whole city will once again be turned into a stage.

Altstadt Salzburg · 18 July 2021

Free tickets now available online

© Salzburger Festspiele Archiv

From the beginning, the Salzburg Festival had an extraordinary mission: to create meaning in times of crisis. The Festival’s 2021 programme will again feature lectures about the century, devoted to exploring the question of whether the belief in the power of the arts – of which our founding fathers were convinced – still endows the Festival with meaning in our changed times. In doing so, the lectures will invoke the world of yesterday, today and tomorrow.

Watch the Speeches about the century 2020 stream here. The streams are available in German only.

Felsenreitschule · 1 until 22 August 2021

© ASF/Photo Ellinger

Theatre in the cinema – a journey through the filmmaking world of the Festival’s co-founder Max Reinhardt as well as the family of his wife Helene Thimig – began in August 2020 – will be continued in summer 2021.

DAS KINO Giselakai 11 · 26 July until 21 August 2021

In cooperation with the Filmarchiv Austria

© Neumayr/Leo

‘More than ever before, putting on a festival in the 21st century means confronting the realities of a rapidly changing world.’ – A special edition of the Festival Dialogues (in memoriam Michael Fischer) will be revived on the occasion of our centenary, sparking critical discussion about the phenomenon of the Festival and exploring the sources it draws from, the meaning ascribed to it (especially in times of crisis), and the mission it has to undertake in an increasingly digitized world.

Information about tickets and participants can be found here.

Kuenburg-Saal, Neue Residenz, Mozartplatz 1
26 and 27 August 2021

Poldi Wojtek, „Salzburger Festspiele 1928“, Plakat, Archiv der Salzburger Festspiele, Foto: Salzburg Museum

In light of its centenary, the Salzburg Festival engaged with the ongoing debate about the painter and graphic artist Poldi Wojtek. In 1928, Wojtek designed an emblem for the Salzburg Festival that has since – with the exception of the Nazi era – served as the Festival’s logo. The tension between the moral responsibility of artists and the artistic merit of their work is forcefully illustrated by the figure of Poldi Wojtek, who later ingratiated herself with the Nazi regime. In a panel discussion we want to drive forward the extensive debate about how artworks of high aesthetic quality by politically questionable artists should be evaluated.

Grosse Universitätsaula · 12 August 2021, 03:00 pm

Registration required at www.festspielfreunde.at

© Luigi Caputo

The Mortier Award for music theatre and the Mortier Next Generation Award were established to draw inspiration for music theatre’s present and future from the legacy of Gerard Mortier, the opera and festival administrator and former artistic director of the Salzburg Festival, who died in 2014. The award honours figures who, like Mortier, pursue an interdisciplinary approach to renewing the art form of opera. – It is therefore fitting that the polymath Alexander Kluge will be presented with the 2021 Mortier Award. The Next Generation Award goes to the German stage director Ulrike Schwab and is sponsored by the Friends of the Salzburg Festival. On the occasion of its centenary, the Salzburg Festival and the ‘Friends’ Association are honouring the two laureates in a ceremony. Following this event, artistic director Markus Hinterhäuser will host a discussion about the future outlook for music theatre with Asmik Grigorian, Ulrike Schwab and Franz Welser-Möst.

Grosse Universitätsaula · 17 August 2021, 04:00 pm

Emilio Vedova and Luigi Nono in Nono’s house in Venice, 1960 [on the walls lithographies from Vedova’s Ciclo della protesta: Dal ciclo della protesta VII (op. 9), 1959 · Dal ciclo della protesta II (op. 2), 1959 · Dal ciclo della protesta VII (op. 11), 1959] · Archivio Luigi Nono, Venezia · © Eredi Luigi Nono, Venezia

Intolleranza 1960 will be performed for the first time at the Salzburg Festival this summer, 60 years after the world premiere of Luigi Nono’s ‘scenic action’ at the Teatro La Fenice in Venice on 13 April 1961. Markus Hinterhäuser, who laid the foundation for today’s broad reception of Nono’s work as the organizer of Zeitfluss, has consistently and enthusiastically promoted the composer’s music ever since, both as concert director and now as artistic director of the Festival. This new staging is therefore of particular importance to him, especially considering the volatile times in which we live: ‘We are seeking to critically engage with the question of what constitutes tolerance, justice, charity and co-existence.’ In putting on an exhibition in the Foyer of the Haus für Mozart and on the Gallery of the Karl- Böhm-Saal, our aim is to give insights into the creative process behind Intolleranza 1960, document the noisy protests of the world premiere, and show the working methods of the composer and his artistic partner Emilio Vedova.

Click here for more information about the exhibition.

© SF/Lukas Pilz

Numerous plans for a festival theatre were mooted over the last 130 years and went unrealized. For the centenary of the Salzburg Festival, four of these unbuilt architectural designs were made visible in public spaces. Three of these artistic projects can be experienced and explored until the end of August 2021: Esther Stocker’s Three-Part Wrinkle Sculpture, conceived for the Mönchsberg; Werner Feiersinger’s Panel, 2019/20, an installation for the Kapuzinerberg; and Isa Rosenberger’s Portal Frame, created for the Mirabellgarten. The projects document how the festival theatres would have made their mark on the city or its surrounding countryside. (Concept: Norbert Mayr)

Mönchsberg, Kapuzinerberg, Mirabellgarten
until End of August 2021

© Salzburg Museum

The state exhibition Great World Theatre – 100 Years of the Salzburg Festival can be visited until the end of October 2021. The rich history of the Salzburg Festival and its artists – shown through video and audio material, letters, photos, costumes and stage props – is on display in the Neue Residenz. We have brought our archives to life and aim to engage visitors with artistic interventions, acted-out stories, film screenings and much more.

26 July 2020 to 31 October 2021, State Exhibition at the Salzburg Museum – Neue Residenz