168 events over 47 days... 220,000 tickets were sold despite "Corona"
Salzburg Festival: 5,000 employees from 60 countries on a “musical mission”
Palace of Festivals The state allocated 210 million shillings for its construction in 1956.
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The field of classical music is very globalized, between mid-July and the end of August, the Salzburg International Festival “Salzburger Fiestapelle” employs 5,000 employees from 60 countries, and this year sold about 220,000 tickets, despite the “Covid-19” pandemic, their prices ranged between €5 and €445 (half of which is less than €105). The festival program includes 168 events over 47 days, with a budget of €60 million.
For months, for example, work has been going on sculpting masks for Don Giovanni, while hat-makers and fashion designers are busy in their respective fields on the occasion of the festival, and it looks like a real city is working within the city to achieve an “organized dream”, as artistic director Marcus Hinterheuser says.
"Having all these people from different continents pursue the same goal is a formidable task," says festival president Helga Rabel-Stadler, who will retire this fall after a quarter-century of dedication.
"In 1920, the founders planned to build a world art center on Austrian soil that would transcend nations, we almost did," she says.
Under the roof of the grand Palais des Festivals in the Austrian city of Salzburg, where tunes have been ringing for six decades, the most famous artists compete every summer to immortalize their names and the memory of their passing in this ancient world musical edifice.
This place, which was opened on July 26, 1960, and where the performances of the Salzburg Festival “Salzburger Fieschbele” are held, is considered one of the most important landmarks of lyrical art, and artists wish to sing within its walls, as it is characterized by the sound capabilities it provides, and its huge stage, which is punished by seniors, such as Placido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti.
Helga Stadler asserts that "the birth of this hall was a pure miracle."
Rabel-Stadler recalls the history of this unique building, which consists of two small adjoining halls, one of which was called "Mozart's House" and the other "Vortex of the Rocks".
She recounts: "The architect Clemens Holzmeister, under the direction of conductor Herbert von Karajan, wanted to implement this pioneering project, and in 1956 the state allocated 210 million shillings for its construction, which is a huge sum."
At the time, the Music and Theater Festival, founded in 1920 as a peace project after World War I, was held in modest neighborhoods, leaning against the rock that overlooked the old city.
The small Republic of Austria, devastated by World War II, had just been liberated in 1955 from the occupying forces, and was completely dependent on culture, making this “Great Palace” with 2,179 seats a symbol of renewal.
The 100-meter-wide board was built by blasting 50,000 cubic meters of rock with dynamite, and the audience enters the venue from the street, through five huge bronze doors.
The hall and lobby are decorated with woodwork, frescoes, mosaics, sculptures and textiles, which provide an elegant ambiance thanks to their timeless materials.
vocal intimacy
What makes this hall unique is its "really wonderful acoustics", according to the conductor of the orchestra, Franz Felzer-Most, who gave 74 concerts in it.
“When you enter the theater, you feel intimidated by the scale of the place, but it actually provides an acoustic intimacy that is beyond imagination," says Felzer-Most, who is excited to return to it this year.
He notes that "the weakest sounds are spread out in such a way that even an audience seated far away can hear them very directly."
And if Salzburg hosted the greatest singing artists, its role also lies in nurturing “the talents that will shape the music of tomorrow,” according to Hinterhuiser.
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