Salzburg Festival

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This is where the Von Trapp family (both the real and the fictional versions from “The Sound of Music”) performed before escaping over the alps out of Austria during WW2, so even those unfamiliar with Salzburg, birthplace of Mozart, may have an interest in this annual musical event. The cinematic Von Trapps sing traditional songs, but the five week festival also makes time for drama, opera and classical concerts playing around 170 events to crowds of more than 220,000.

Performances centre around the Mönchsberg (The Mozart Museum), the Festival Hall, the Felsenreitschule and The Horse Pond and permeate the cities churches, smaller theatres and outdoor spaces. Strauss and prolific German director Max Reinhardt (who thought all the talent out of work during the summer could be put to good use.) are credited with the festival’s post war revival in the 1920’s and Strauss and Mozart are regular features of the festival, the rest being a good mix of classics, rediscovered treasures and premiered works.

3 / 5 Review by editor Kat Mackintosh

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3 / 5 Review by editor larapiegeler