Kirill Petrenko | © OFS Osterfestspiele Salzburg Foto: Monika Rittershaus

Salzburg Easter Festival

March 20–29, 2027

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 founding of the Salzburg Easter Festival

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.

Salzburg Easter Festival today

The festival begins on the Saturday before Palm Sunday and continues until Easter Monday. Nikolaus Bachler has been the artistic director since 2023. In 2026, the Berliner Philharmoniker will return to Salzburg to open a new "Ring of the Nibelung" cycle with "Das Rheingold."