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Herbert-von-Karajan-Platz 11
5020 Salzburg
22 March - 1 April, 2024
The Salzburg Easter Festival was founded in 1967 by Herbert von Karajan. The main focus is on opera. The supporting programme is made up of numerous concerts.
The Salzburg Easter Festival was founded in 1967 by Herbert von Karajan as an addition to the Salzburg Festival in August and quickly established itself as an exclusive and artistically brilliant festival. Herbert von Karajan's basic idea in founding the Easter Festival was the desire to further develop the festival idea in Salzburg, whereby the Easter Festival never saw itself as an offshoot of the Salzburg Festival in the summer, but was able to develop a completely independent profile. This could only be achieved through first-class directors, top-class performers and sophisticated opera productions.
The Festival starts annually on the Saturday before Palm Sunday and lasts until Easter Monday. From 2023, the artistic director is Nikolaus Bachler, who will invite a different leading orchestra with its chief conductor to perform in Salzburg each year, to offer audiences a wide range of interpretative styles.
The 2024 Salzburg Easter Festival takes us to Italy. Chief conductor Sir Antonio Pappano will present a new production of Amilcare Ponchielli's rarely performed opera »La Gioconda« with the Orchestra dell' Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia from Rome, and Anna Netrebko and Jonas Kaufmann in the leading roles. The programme also includes orchestral concerts featuring Italy from the perspective of both Italian and non-Italian composers, as well as Giuseppe Verdi's »Messa da Requiem« and two lied recitals. The section combining dance and electronic music, newly founded in 2023, will be continued. The internationally renowned DJ Max Cooper will mix the sounds of Italy with electronic beats.