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Chilly brilliance from Salonen in Stravinsky and Berlioz at the Salzburg Festival

By Chanda VanderHart, 27 July 2025

The Vienna Philharmonic's first concert at this year's Salzburg Festival pairs Oedipus Rex with the Symphonie fantastique, with Esa-Pekka Salonen stepping in for Lorenzo Viotti.

***11

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***11

Salzburg

27 Jul 2025

Chilly brilliance from Salonen at the Salzburg Festival

By Chanda VanderHart

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Salzburg

Une Folle journée: Mozart-Da Ponte pasticcio at Salzburg's Whitsun Festival

By Laura Servidei, 18 May 2024

Cecilia Bartoli leads a stellar cast in a silly, but fun divertissement where Mozart’s music shines supreme.

****1

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Salzburg

18 May 2024

Une Folle journée: Mozart-Da Ponte pasticcio at the Whitsun Festival

By Laura Servidei

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Salzburg

Sunday worship in Salzburg led by Riccardo Muti and the Vienna Philharmonic

By Mark Pullinger, 13 August 2023

Sunday bells call the Salzburg Festival pilgrims to the Großes Festspielhaus for late choral Verdi and Bruckner's Seventh Symphony.

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Salzburg

13 Aug 2023

Salzburg's Sunday worship led by Muti and the Vienna Phil

By Mark Pullinger

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Salzburg

Vladislav Sulimsky and Asmik Grigorian grip Salzburg as the murderous Macbeths

By Mark Pullinger, 06 August 2023

Krzysztof Warlikowski’s ghoulish production has the Macbeths’ killing spree spring from their infertility.

****1

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Salzburg

06 Aug 2023

Sulimsky and Grigorian grip Salzburg as the murderous Macbeths

By Mark Pullinger

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Salzburg

From light-hearted to heartbreaking: Il trittico at Salzburg Festival

By Isabella Steppan, 21 August 2022

Asmik Grigorian is captivating in an unobtrusive production of Puccini's three one-act operas. Under Franz Welser-Möst, the Vienna Philharmonic is on top form.

*****

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*****

Salzburg

21 Aug 2022

From light-hearted to heartbreaking: Il trittico at Salzburg Festival

By Isabella Steppan

Salzburg

Kirill Petrenko and the Berlin Philharmonic shine in glory at the Salzburg Festival

By Laurence Vittes, 29 August 2021

There was a knowing inevitability in the Berliners' athletic performance of Schubert's “Great” C major Symphony.

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Salzburg

29 Aug 2021

Berlin Philharmonic shines in glory at the Salzburg Festival

By Laurence Vittes

Salzburg

A joy to behold: Evgeny Kissin on a roll at the Salzburg Festival

By Nick Boston, 28 August 2021

An extraordinary evening in the Großes Festspielhaus as the pianist draws his audience in for a marathon recital of Berg, Gershwin and Chopin.

*****

*****

Salzburg

28 Aug 2021

A joy to behold: Evgeny Kissin on a roll at the Salzburg Festival

By Nick Boston

Salzburg

West-Eastern Divan Orchestra shows its stars at the Salzburg Festival

By Alexander Hall, 13 August 2021

Daniel Barenboim offered an unusually Germanic take on César Franck, while section leaders Michael Barenboim and Kian Soltani pulled double duty as soloists in Brahms' Double Concerto.

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Salzburg

13 Aug 2021

West-Eastern Divan Orchestra shows its stars at the Salzburg Festival

By Alexander Hall

Salzburg

A hole in the heart: Salzburg Festival’s new Don Giovanni

By Hugo Shirley, 04 August 2021

The pairing of controversial director and bad-boy conductor brings some thrills but the Salzburg Festival's new Don Giovanni proves disappointingly uninvolving.

***11

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Salzburg

04 Aug 2021

A hole in the heart: Salzburg Festival’s new Don Giovanni

By Hugo Shirley

Salzburg

Netrebko and Eyvazov serve up Russian jewels in Salzburg gala

By Mark Pullinger, 27 August 2020

With duets from Pique Dame and Iolanta, along with set pieces from Eugene Onegin, this gala was packed with Russian passion.

****1

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Salzburg

27 Aug 2020

Netrebko and Eyvazov serve up Russian jewels in Salzburg gala

By Mark Pullinger

Salzburg

A warm Viennese embrace as Wagner and Bruckner meet in Salzburg

By Mark Pullinger, 26 August 2020

Forget powerhouse “hojotohos” and sandblasting brass. Elīna Garanča and Christian Thielemann offered more intimate portraits of these composers at the Großes Festspielhaus.

*****

*****

Salzburg

26 Aug 2020

A warm Viennese embrace as Wagner and Bruckner meet in Salzburg

By Mark Pullinger

Salzburg

A granitic Beethoven 9 from Muti in Salzburg

By Mark Pullinger, 17 August 2020

“Go big or go home” could easily have been the motto of this summer’s festival. Muti didn’t just go big. He went huge.

***11

***11

Salzburg

17 Aug 2020

A granitic Beethoven 9 from Muti in Salzburg

By Mark Pullinger

Salzburg

Mahler in all his might: Nelsons and the Vienna Philharmonic raise the roof in Salzburg

By Mark Pullinger, 08 August 2020

In a pandemic era of chamber reductions, the joy in this Mahler 6 was hearing an orchestra of 108 musicians let off the leash.

****1

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Salzburg

08 Aug 2020

Mahler in all his might: raising the roof in Salzburg

By Mark Pullinger

Salzburg

School for lovers: Loy’s bitter lessons at the Salzburg Festival

By Mark Pullinger, 02 August 2020

It's difficult to believe Salzburg could have cast a finer Così in Loy's Covid-reduced production in the Großes Festspielhaus.

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Salzburg

02 Aug 2020

School for lovers: Loy’s bitter lessons at the Salzburg Festival

By Mark Pullinger

Salzburg

In memoriam: Verdi's Requiem in Salzburg

By Matthew Rye, 15 August 2019

Riccardo Muti conducted a stirring performance of Verdi's Requiem to mark the 30th anniversary of Karajan's death.

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Salzburg

15 Aug 2019

In memoriam: Verdi's Requiem in Salzburg

By Matthew Rye

Salzburg

Jansons and the Vienna Phil trump Neuenfels' tame Pique Dame in Salzburg

By Mark Pullinger, 10 August 2018

Mariss Jansons and the Vienna Philharmonic do the real storytelling as Hans Neuenfels' staging underwhelms.

***11

***11

Salzburg

10 Aug 2018

Jansons trumps Neuenfels' tame Pique Dame in Salzburg

By Mark Pullinger

Salzburg

Netrebko triumphs as musical performances transcend Salzburg Festival staging of Aida

By James Imam, 09 August 2017

Muti's reading of the score is extraordinary, both for its sophistication and originality.

****1

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Salzburg

09 Aug 2017

Netrebko triumphs as Aida

By James Imam

Salzburg

Socking the audience between the eyes: Nelsons and Trifonov at the Salzburg Festival

By James Imam, 07 August 2017

Youth was a hindrance rather than a virtue in this testosterone-driven performance which sought more than anything to sock the audience between the eyes

***11

***11

Salzburg

07 Aug 2017

Socking the audience between the eyes

By James Imam

Salzburg

Murderously brilliant: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk at Salzburg Festival

By Isabella Steppan, 05 August 2017

Under Mariss Jansons, the Vienna Philharmonic are on top form in Shostakovich's opera; together with a top class cast of singers, they create sonic and emotional intoxication.

*****

*****

Salzburg

05 Aug 2017

Murderously brilliant: Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk in Salzburg

By Isabella Steppan

Salzburg

Riccardo Muti works his magic in magnificent Salzburg matinee

By Jonathan Sutherland, 14 August 2016

The Vienna Philharmonic may have loathed Bruckner in the past, but are today unparalleled interpreters of his music.

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Salzburg

14 Aug 2016

Riccardo Muti works his magic in Salzburg

By Jonathan Sutherland

Salzburg

Going for gold: Strauss' Die Liebe der Danae returns to Salzburg

By Matthew Rye, 05 August 2016

Strauss' penultimate opera is treated to a lavish if superficial staging at the Salzburg Festival, but the real rewards come from the musical performance of this unjustly neglected work.

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Salzburg

05 Aug 2016

Strauss's Die Liebe der Danae returns to Salzburg

By Matthew Rye

Salzburg

Manon from heaven: sublime account at the Salzburg Festival

By Matthew Rye, 04 August 2016

A starrily cast performance of Puccini's early opera transcended the limitations of concert presentation to provide a very moving and musically rewarding account of the drama.

****1

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Salzburg

04 Aug 2016

Manon from heaven at the Salzburg Festival

By Matthew Rye

Salzburg

Vienna is the true heroine in Kupfer's new Salzburg staging of Der Rosenkavalier

By Ako Imamura, 11 August 2014

Harry Kupfer updates the action of Der Rosenkavalier to the early 20th century in an evocative production for the Salzburg Festival.

***11

***11

Salzburg

11 Aug 2014

Vienna is the true heroine in Kupfer's new Der Rosenkavalier

By Ako Imamura

Salzburg

Salzburg Festival: The Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and Pappano celebrate Britten with War Requiem

By Benedetta Saglietti, 18 August 2013

Celebrating the 100th anniversary of Benjamin Britten’s birth, Antonio Pappano led the Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia Orchestra and Choir, together with first-class soloists, in an intense performance of the War Requiem.

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Salzburg

18 Aug 2013

Salzburg Festival: The Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia and Pappano celebrate Britten with War Requiem

By Benedetta Saglietti

Salzburg

Salzburg Festival: Maurizio Pollini's piano recital a contrasting evening

By Benedetta Saglietti, 17 August 2013

If you recognize how Maurizio Pollini walks onto the stage, you can probably gauge his mood – which this evening was particularly restless. I have always wondered why he reaches the piano so quickly and almost immediately begins to play. Invariably, he has a puzzled expression on his face, as if he were wondering what all these spectators are doing in the hall – I love this shyness.

***11

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Salzburg

17 Aug 2013

Salzburg Festival: Maurizio Pollini's piano recital a contrasting evening

By Benedetta Saglietti

Salzburg

Riccardo Muti conducts an impressive Verdi's Requiem at the Salzburg Festival

By Benedetta Saglietti, 15 August 2013

Apart from the precious Quattro pezzi sacri, Verdi wrote very little sacred music until this Requiem, probably due to his agnosticism. When Alessandro Manzoni, one of the most important and admired Italian literary figures, died on the 22nd of May 1873, Verdi felt that something in the Italian cultural world had come to an end.

****1

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Salzburg

15 Aug 2013

Riccardo Muti conducts an impressive Verdi's Requiem at the Salzburg Festival

By Benedetta Saglietti

Salzburg

The Barrios meet Lederhosen: El Sistema at the Salzburg Festival

By David Allen, 11 August 2013

High above the Salzach’s east bank towers the Hotel Sacher, and atop it for the last few days has been an unusual standard: the flag of Venezuela.

Salzburg

11 Aug 2013

The Barrios meet Lederhosen: El Sistema at the Salzburg Festival

By David Allen

Salzburg

The Vienna Philharmonic find form in Bruckner – eventually – at Salzburg Festival

By David Allen, 11 August 2013

Bruckner, like all symphonic-minded composers after Beethoven, had a finale problem, or so the conventional wisdom goes. How, after all, could one follow the Ninth? At his very greatest, Bruckner solved this with ingenious formal devices (his Fifth Symphony) or through sheer force of emotional and religious will (his Eighth).

***11

***11

Salzburg

11 Aug 2013

The Vienna Philharmonic find form in Bruckner – eventually – at Salzburg Festival

By David Allen

Salzburg

Salzburg's first spiritual festival closes with Verdi's Requiem

By Zwölftöner, 01 September 2012

Faith and glamour have bookended this year’s Salzburg Festival, a move met with incredulity in certain quarters and yet one not entirely alien to Austrian customs, if one looks to the 20 or so most glittering events of the Viennese ball season, which is promptly curtailed by Ash Wednesday (still observed by much of the population here with high Catholic asceticism).

****1

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Salzburg

01 Sep 2012

Salzburg's first spiritual festival closes with Verdi's Requiem

By Zwölftöner

Salzburg

Leonidas Kavakos, Mariss Jansons and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Salzburg

By Zwölftöner, 31 August 2012

Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw can claim the most enduring historical connection with Mahler’s symphonies of any orchestra due to their erstwhile principal conductor Willem Mengelberg, who invited Mahler to Amsterdam to conduct the Third and Fourth Symphonies in 1903 and 1904 respectively and after the composer’s death became one of his chief disciples.

****1

****1

Salzburg

31 Aug 2012

Leonidas Kavakos, Mariss Jansons and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Salzburg

By Zwölftöner

Salzburg

In Salzburg, unflinching Bruckner from Bernard Haitink and the Vienna Philharmonic

By Zwölftöner, 25 August 2012

The Vienna Philharmonic has received a mixed reception at the Proms in recent years, but this programme of Beethoven and Bruckner with Murray Perahia and Bernard Haitink, which was performed in Salzburg this weekend and tours to London next week, will be sure to be met with critical approval.There were however moments during the first movement of Beethoven’s Piano Concerto no.

****1

****1

Salzburg

25 Aug 2012

In Salzburg, unflinching Bruckner from Bernard Haitink and the Vienna Philharmonic

By Zwölftöner

Salzburg

Eschenbach, Lupu and the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra in Salzburg

By Zwölftöner, 06 August 2012

Established in 1987 by Leonard Bernstein, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra last year joined the exclusive club of youth orchestras to have performed at the Salzburg Festival and was immediately invited back for a return appearance this season.

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Salzburg

06 Aug 2012

Eschenbach, Lupu and the Schleswig-Holstein Festival Orchestra in Salzburg

By Zwölftöner

Salzburg

La bohème in Salzburg with Netrebko and a tenor surprise

By Zerbinetta, 04 August 2012

When Salzburg Festival director Alexander Pereira stepped onto the stage of the Großes Festspielhaus last night to announce that one of the cast members of La bohème was sick and unable to sing, he faced a chorus of hisses from the audience. Soprano Anna Netrebko, the festival’s biggest non-conductor star, was feeling fine (though as Mimì she would shortly die of consumption).

****1

****1

Salzburg

04 Aug 2012

La bohème in Salzburg with Netrebko and a tenor surprise

By Zerbinetta

Salzburg

Mariss Jansons conducts the Vienna Philharmonic in Salzburg

By Zwölftöner, 04 August 2012

Strauss’ Don Juan has a long tradition as one of the Vienna Philharmonic’s more dazzling curtain-openers but a recent tendency, even with Gustavo Dudamel, who conducted this work with the orchestra last autumn, has been for more subdued accounts which downplay the brilliance and virtuosity of the orchestral writing.

****1

****1

Salzburg

04 Aug 2012

Mariss Jansons conducts the Vienna Philharmonic in Salzburg

By Zwölftöner

Salzburg

The Salzburg Festival's Die Frau ohne Schatten

By Zerbinetta, 01 August 2011

Richard Strauss and Hugo von Hofmannsthal began their collaboration on Die Frau ohne Schatten (The Woman Without a Shadow) with utopian ambitions. Unfortunately they weren’t the same ones. For Hofmannsthal, this would finally be the opera where his poetry would be illuminated by rather than buried under the music.

Salzburg

01 Aug 2011

The Salzburg Festival's Die Frau ohne Schatten

By Zerbinetta

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Salzburg

Machtrausch und multiple Morde: Macbeth bei den Salzburger Festspielen

By Isabella Steppan, 26 August 2025

Vladislav Sulimsky und Asmik Grigorian beeindrucken einmal mehr als mörderisches Paar; der stärkste Aspekt der gedanklich überfrachteten Inszenierung ist ihre detailreiche Personenführung.

****1

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****1

Salzburg

26 Aug 2025

Machtrausch und multiple Morde: Macbeth bei den Salzburger Festspielen

By Isabella Steppan

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Salzburg

Bayreuth-Feeling mit Yannick Nézet-Séguin bei den Salzburger Festspielen

By Isabella Steppan, 24 August 2025

Die Wiener Philharmoniker und Yannick Nézet-Séguin widmen sich bei den Salzburger Festspielen ganz exklusiv Richard Wagner – mit feinen Details, aber gemischten Sängerleistungen.

***11

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***11

Salzburg

24 Aug 2025

Bayreuth-Feeling mit Nézet-Séguin bei den Salzburger Festspielen

By Isabella Steppan

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Salzburg

Gefangene im mechanischen Räderwerk: Maria Stuarda an den Salzburger Festspielen

By Thomas Schacher, 07 August 2025

Regisseur Ulrich Rasche bringt eine radikal neue Sicht auf Donizettis Belcanto-Oper. Lisette Oropesa als Maria und Kate Lindsey als Elisabetta brillieren als königliche Todfeindinnen.

*****

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*****

Salzburg

07 Aug 2025

Gefangene im mechanischen Räderwerk: Maria Stuarda in Salzburg

By Thomas Schacher

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Salzburg

Liebeskranker Dichter als Filmregisseur: Hoffmanns Erzählungen in Salzburg

By Thomas Schacher, 13 August 2024

Die Neuproduktion von Offenbachs letzter Oper an den Salzburger Festspielen bringt in der Regie von Mariame Clément einen erfrischend neuen Ansatz und unter dem Dirigat von Marc Minkowski einen Ohrenschmaus.

*****

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*****

Salzburg

13 Aug 2024

Liebeskranker Dichter als Filmregisseur: Hoffmann in Salzburg

By Thomas Schacher

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Salzburg

Tausend Ideen für 1003 Liebschaften: Castelluccis Don Giovanni bei den Salzburger Festspielen

By Michael Vieth, 11 August 2024

Castelluccis ideen- und effektreiche Inszenierung bleibt auch in der „Neueinstudierung“ mit verändertem Orchester und Sängern beim Publikum umstritten.

*****

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*****

Salzburg

11 Aug 2024

Tausend Ideen für 1003 Liebschaften: Don Giovanni in Salzburg

By Michael Vieth

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Salzburg

Mozart frisch und heiter: Kammerphilharmonie Bremen bei den Salzburger Pfingstfestspielen

By Christoph Wurzel, 18 May 2024

Die Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen zauberte unter der Leitung von Paavo Järvi gemeinsam mit Daniil Trifonov Freude ins Große Festspielhaus.

****1

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****1

Salzburg

18 May 2024

Mozart frisch und heiter mit Paavo Järvi in Salzburg

By Christoph Wurzel

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Salzburg

Kopfkino: glänzender Williams und Strawinsky vom Boston Symphony Orchestra

By Benedikt Zacher, 31 August 2023

Andris Nelsons und Anne-Sophie Mutter sorgen bei den Salzburger Festspielen für einen gewaltigen Klangrausch.

****1

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****1

Salzburg

31 Aug 2023

Glänzender Williams und Strawinsky vom Boston Symphony Orchestra

By Benedikt Zacher

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Salzburg

Etwas anders, aber denkwürdig: Les Troyens bei den Salzburger Festspielen

By Jens Klier, 26 August 2023

Im Interview versprach Gardiner Emotionalität und Überraschung. In der Auffühung kam sie mit Assistent Sousa daher, der letztlich den bombastisch grandiosen Berlioz-Höhepunkt von ORR und Monteverdi Choir anerkennend rettete.

****1

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****1

Salzburg

26 Aug 2023

Etwas anders, aber denkwürdig: Les Troyens in Salzburg

By Jens Klier

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Salzburg

Ton, Kamera, wenig Action: Falstaff bei den Salzburger Festspielen

By Isabella Steppan, 16 August 2023

Christoph Marthaler siedelt Verdis letzte Oper an einem Filmset an und produziert dabei wohl keinen Kassenschlager; immerhin rettet die musikalische Seite den Abend vor dem Flop.

***11

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***11

Salzburg

16 Aug 2023

Ton, Kamera, wenig Action: Falstaff bei den Salzburger Festspielen

By Isabella Steppan

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Salzburg

Himmlische Freuden mit den Wiener Philharmonikern bei den Salzburger Festspielen

By Benedikt Zacher, 05 August 2023

Andris Nelsons, Augustin Hadelich und Christiane Karg verzaubern mit Berg und Mahler das Publikum im Großen Festspielhaus.

****1

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Salzburg

05 Aug 2023

Himmlische Freuden mit den Wiener Philharmonikern in Salzburg

By Benedikt Zacher

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Salzburg

Kunstinstallation mit Sängerbeteiligung: Aida bei den Salzburger Festspielen

By Isabella Steppan, 19 August 2022

Shirin Neshats Inszenierung bleibt trotz Überarbeitung und einem grundsätzlich interessanten Konzept problematisch; musikalisch stimmt an diesem Abend dafür (fast) alles.

****1

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Salzburg

19 Aug 2022

Kunstinstallation mit Sängerbeteiligung: Aida in Salzburg

By Isabella Steppan

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Salzburg

Verlässliches Festspiel-Highlight: Thielemann, Garanča und die Wiener Philharmoniker

By Isabella Steppan, 30 July 2022

Christian Thielemann und die Wiener Philharmoniker stellten einmal mehr unter Beweis, dass sie ein unschlagbares Team sind; für eleganten Mezzoklang sorgte Elīna Garanča.

****1

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****1

Salzburg

30 Jul 2022

Verlässliches Festspiel-Highlight: Thielemann, Garanča, Philharmoniker

By Isabella Steppan

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Salzburg

Ein Appell gegen Unterdrückung: Schostakowitschs „Leningrader” Symphonie in Salzburg

By Isabella Steppan, 10 April 2022

Unter der Leitung von Tugan Sokhiev ließ die Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden bei der „Leningrader” Symphonie wenig heroischen Pathos, aber viel Emotion hören.

****1

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Salzburg

10 Apr 2022

Appell gegen Unterdrückung: Schostakowitschs „Leningrader” in Salzburg

By Isabella Steppan

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Salzburg

Thielemanns Schwanengesang: Lohengrin bei den Osterfestspielen Salzburg

By Alexandra Richter, 09 April 2022

Christian Thielemann und die Staatskapelle Dresden geben bei den Osterfestspielen einen gebührenden Abschied.

***11

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***11

Salzburg

09 Apr 2022

Thielemanns Schwanengesang: Lohengrin bei den Osterfestspielen

By Alexandra Richter

Salzburg

Perfektion und Leidenschaft im Großen Festspielhaus

By Isabella Steppan, 01 August 2021

Christian Thielemann, die Wiener Philharmoniker und Elīna Garanča demonstrieren einmal mehr, dass sie das ultimative Konzert-Dream Team der Salzburger Festspiele sind.

*****

*****

Salzburg

01 Aug 2021

Perfektion und Leidenschaft im Großen Festspielhaus

By Isabella Steppan