Friday 11 November 2011

New operas at Salzburg Festival from 2013

The programme for next year's Salzburg Festival has been announced. I shall post some details on that a little later, though everything can of course be found on the website (click here). In the meantime, there is interesting news from new Intendant, Alexander Pereira, whom I heard speak earlier this evening at the Austrian Ambassador's Residence, along with Festival President, Helga Rabl-Stadler, and Director of Drama, Sven-Erik Bechtolf (who has interesting plans of his own). From 2013 until 2016 - and, let us hope, beyond - there will be a newly commissioned opera each year. 2014 will be the turn of Marc-André Dalbavie, 2015 Thomas Adès (also to be seen at Covent Garden and in New York, though I think it will be the Philharmonic rather than the Met), and 2016 Jörg Widmann. 2013 is perhaps the most exciting of all: a new opera on Beckett's Endgame, by none other than György Kurtág. More soon on the programme for 2012...