Salzburg Easter Festival

The Salzburg Easter Festival was founded by Herbert von Karajan in 1967 as a means of expanding the traditional Salzburg Festival in July and August. The Easter Festival rapidly grew to become an exclusive and artistically brilliant festival. Elaborate new opera productions and the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra's extensive orchestral repertoire contributed to the Salzburg Easter Festival's renown from the very beginning. Herbert von Karajan's fundamental idea was to expand upon the festival concept in Salzburg, although the Easter Festival was never intended to be an offshoot of the Salzburg Festival in summer but a festival that would develop its own personal profile. This was facilitated by first-class directors, high-caliber artists and elaborate productions.

The Salzburg Easter Festival today
The Festival begins each year on the Saturday before Palm Sunday with an opera premiere and ends on Easter Monday, when the opera is traditionally performed a second time. In between there are scheduled six evenings with concerts of the Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden and the choir "Chor des Bayerischen Rundfunks".  This year, Christian Thielemann debuts as new Artistic Director of the Salzburg Easter Festival. oNce, Christian Thielemann was amusical assistant of Herbert von Karajan, now the maestro has succeeded Sir Simon Rattle in this responsible position.

 

The Program 2014

 

Download here the program of the Easter Festival 2014.