Festival Summer in Austria

True culture buffs travel across half the world in search of their favorite interpreter or a unique production. In Austria they find what they are looking for: romantic historic settings, awe-inspiring nature and cultural highlights, and all within a small space. The Salzburg Festival is the world’s most famous classic summer festival. “Everyman”, the morality play on the life and death of a rich man, performed in front of the Salzburg Cathedral is a fixture on Austria’s culture calendar. Mörbisch am Neusiedler See stages a highly successful operetta festival al fresco, and on the country’s opposite side there is the Bregenz Festival where popular operas and musicals are performed on the world’s largest floating stage.

What makes these events so special is the superb mix of beautiful nature, modern stage design, mild summer nights and top notch artists.

Another thing Austria’s festivals have going for them are the fact that many works are performed at places where the old masters once used to live and work. Anton Bruckner, for instance, was born in Ansfelden bei Linz and every year Upper Austria’s capital pays tribute to it’s most famous son with the annual Bruckner Fest. Joseph Haydn used to live in Eisenstadt for a long time and now the world’s best Haydn interpreters meet at Schloss Esterhazy in Eisenstadt once a year to give wonderful concerts in the castle’s historic ambiance. Famous Renaissance and Baroque masters once performed in Innsbruck; today the Innsbruck Festival Weeks re-live this tradition with the Ambras Palace Concerts which present early music performed on period instruments.

The combination of city, culture and nature ensures unique visual and acoustic experiences! In addition to great theater, opera and concert classics, Austria also offers a variety of contemporary festivals such as ImpulsTanz dance festival in Vienna, styriarte in Graz, Klangspuren Schwaz and Ars electronica in Linz.
And of course there is rock & pop ….