Program 1.8.-7.8.2026
Vienna Philharmonic/Esa-Pekka Salonen (Salzburg Festival 2025, Großes Festspielhaus). An ORF and UNITEL production.
SIEMENS BREAKFAST CONCERT
Program
IGOR STRAVINSKY Oedipus Rex – opera-oratorio in two acts
HECTOR BERLIOZ Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14 – Épisode de la vie d’un artiste en cinq parties
Conductor: Esa-Pekka Salonen
With: Christoph Waltz (Speaker), Allan Clayton (Oedipus), Marina Viotti (Jocasta), Michael Volle (Kreon/Messenger), Albert Dohmen (Tiresias), Antonin Rondepierre (Sheperd) and the Wiener Singverein
Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic
Duration: 113 minutes
A Pasticcio in two acts with music by Antonio Vivaldi (Salzburg Festival 2025, Haus für Mozart – in Italian with German Subtitles). A BR/ARTE and UNITEL production.
For over 2000 years, Ovid’s Metamorphoses have shaped our culture and served as an inexhaustible source of inspiration for countless artistic adaptations. Just as the characters within each story transform, so do the stories themselves, whose imagination and outrageousness continue to fascinate to this day. The boundaries between human and nature, gods and animals, become blurred.
From the unique diversity of Vivaldi’s arias, ensembles and choruses, a pasticcio for our time was created for Hotel Metamorphosis, one that combines individual episodes from Ovid’s Metamorphoses with Antonio Vivaldi’s virtuosic and varied music. In Ovid’s complex emotional worlds, people of today become recognisable, and Vivaldi’s music allows them to wander between melancholy and joy, between light and darkness. Cecilia Bartoli and her artist friends embody various characters on stage, each experiencing their own metamorphoses and those of others. Angela Winkler takes on the role of an Orpheus figure, roaming between realities.
Cast
Conductor: Gianluca Capuano | Director: Barrie Kosky | Orchestra: Les Musiciens du Prince – Monaco | Chor: Il Canto di Orfeo | Duration: 206 minutes | With: Cecilia Bartoli (Eurydice/Arachne), Lea Desandre (Statua/Myrrha/Echo), Nadezhda Karyazina (Minerva/Nutrice /Juno), Philippe Jaroussky (Pygmalion/Narcissus), Angela Winkler (Orpheus)
Lea Desandre as Echo, Angela Winkler as Orpheus and Il Canto di Orfeo.
The play about the death of the rich man by Hugo von Hofmannsthal (Salzburg Festival 2024, Domplatz – in German). An ORF and UNITEL production.
816 performances. The pull of the play Jedermann remains undiminished, especially since Philipp Hochmair, who already succeeded as an understudy for the title role in 2018, returned to the Domplatz in 2024 as Jedermann. The production was directed by Robert Carsen, who intended to gather previously unheard nuances from the text by Hofmannsthal. “Max Reinhardt’s idea, i.e. to perform Jedermann in the heart of the city, at the Domplatz, is filled with resonance and joy. We must not forget that this play deals with subjects sacred to us. It is, however, not sacrosanct per se – and neither Hofmannsthal nor Reinhardt would have wished for it to be treated so. It celebrates life by accepting death, as if it were baptism and funeral service in one. Jedermann is a summary, a metaphor and an allegory of life,” explains Robert Carsen, stating his approach to the “Play about the death of the rich man”.
Cast
Director, Sets and Lighting: Robert Carsen | Duration: 110 minutes | With: Dominik Dos-Reis (Death), Philipp Hochmair (Everyman), Christoph Luser (Everyman’s good companion/Devil), Dörte Lyssewski (Poor neighbor/Deeds), Nicole Beutler (The debtor’s wife), Deleila Piasko (Paramour), Lukas Vogelsang (Fat cousin), Daniel Lommatzsch (Thin cousin), Kristof Van Boven (Mammon), Regine Zimmermann (Faith), Andrea Jonasson (Everyman’s mother), Arthur Klemt (Debtor)
Director: Robert Carsen.
Musical theater work in two parts by Igor Stravinsky (Salzburg Festival 2025, Salzburg Marionette Theater – in German). A NHK and UNITEL production
Igor Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du Soldat is a work sui generis – not an opera, but a piece ‘to be read, played and danced’ for a narrator and instrumental ensemble, which came into being against the backdrop of the First World War. It is based on a Russian fairy tale about a deserting soldier, the Devil, a violin and a princess. When the Devil is involved, the story rarely ends well – and this tale is no exception. The original scenic concept, inspired in both aesthetic and practical terms by travelling fairs and theatre troupes, brings to mind images of street balladeers. The world premiere of L’Histoire du soldat in 1918 in Lausanne was not only an important moment in the 20th-century Swiss theatre, but also cemented the work’s status as a landmark of musical modernism.
Cast
Director: Matthias Bundschuh | Puppets and equipment: Georg Baselitz | Duration: 75 minutes | With: Dominique Horwitz (speaker), Isabelle Faust (violin), Pascal Moraguès (clarinet), Giorgio Mandolesi (bassoon), Reinhold Friedrich (cornet), Ian Bousfield (trombone), Burak Marlali (double bass), Raymond Curfs (percussion) and the Ensemble of the Salzburg Marionette Theaters
Equipment: Georg Baselitz.
The play about the death of the rich man by Hugo von Hofmannsthal (Salzburg Festival 1983, Domplatz – in German). An ORF production.
In memoriam of the great actor Helmuth Lohner, who died in June 2015, the Siemens Festival Nights will be showing the Jedermann production by Ernst Haeusserman from the year 1983, in which Lohner stands out as the devil. The title role belongs to another caliber of Austrian acting: Klaus Maria Brandauer plays the rich spendthrift, who is brought before his throne by God, in order to account for his actions. The two exceptional actors are accompanied by a select group of stars: Marthe Keller as the Paramour, Will Quadflieg as the voice of the Lord, Susi Nicoletti is Everyman’s mother, Romuald Pekny debuts as death, Karlheinz Hackl appears as the good companion, and Alfred Böhm is a wonderful fat cousin.
Cast
Director: Ernst Haeusserman | Duration: 103 minutes | With: Klaus Maria Brandauer (Everyman), Marthe Keller (Paramour), Will Quadflieg (God), Romuald Pekny (Death), Karlheinz Hackl (Good companion), Helmuth Lohner (Devil)
Helmuth Lohner shines as the devil.
Opera in two acts by Ludwig van Beethoven (Salzburg Festival 2015, Großes Festspielhaus – in German). An ORF, 3sat and UNITEL production.
In the years 1803 and 1804 Beethoven lived in an accommodation belonging to the Theater an der Wien. He had been commissioned by the director to compose Vestas Feuer, an opera on the Libretto by Emanuel Schikaneder. However, he quickly lost interest and instead turned to the story of Fidelio, which affected him as a human being and inspired him as a composer, since it contained the “morally uplifting”, which he expected from an opera theme. Starting with the smalltown-world of the gaoler Rocco in the first act and moving over to the second, which primarily deals with the tyrannical governor of the state prison, the third act rises up to celebrate marital love as the victor over despotism – a unique plea for humanity and justice in the guise of a rescue and liberation opera.
Cast
Conductor: Franz Welser-Möst | Director: Claus Guth | Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic | Duration: 136 minutes | With: Jonas Kaufmann (Florestan), Adrianne Pieczonka (Leonore), Tomasz Konieczny (Don Pizarro), Hans-Peter König (Rocco)
Jonas Kaufmann as Florestan.
Melodramma in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi (Salzburg Festival 2023, Großes Festspielhaus – in Italian). An ORF, NHK, SWR/ARTE and UNITEL production.
Macbeth is Verdi’s first opera based on a drama by Shakespeare, whom he admired: a psychologically compelling study of unscrupulous power, loneliness and (self) destruction. In the beginning we have the prophecies of the witches addressed to General Macbeth, who is returning from battle: He would be king one day … Director Krzysztof Warlikowski sees the doubting Macbeth, who is also plagued by insecurities, as a victim of his desire to understand what fate has in store for him. No other opera by Verdi features such a haunting musical atmosphere as this dark thriller tragedy. Vladislav Sulimsky and Asmik Grigorian portray one of the most fascinating and frightening couples of opera literature as Macbeth and his wife under the conductorship of Philippe Jordan.
Cast
Conductor: Philippe Jordan | Director: Krzysztof Warlikowski | Orchestra: Vienna Philharmonic | Duration: 180 minutes | With: Vladislav Sulimsky (Macbeth), Tareq Nazmi (Banco), Asmik Grigorian (Lady Macbeth), Caterina Piva (Lady-in-waiting to Lady Macbeth), Jonathan Tetelman (Macduff), Evan LeRoy Johnson (Malcom), Aleksei Kulagin (Doctor), Grisha Martirosyan (Servant of Macbeth), Hovhannes Karapetyan (Murderer/Herold)
Vladislav Sulimsky as Macbeth and Asmik Grigorian as Lady Macbeth.
Children’s opera by Sebastian Schwab with a libretto by David Bösch (Salzburg Festival 2025, Schauspielhaus Salzburg – in German). A joint production by the Salzburg Festival and the Vienna State Opera.
SIEMENS CHILDRENS PROGRAM
In a remote corner of France lives D’Artagnan, a fearless girl with a head full of dreams and a keen sense of justice. The entire country is firmly in the grip of a narcissistic king and his power-hungry advisor, the Cardinaless. The key to their power is the mysterious golden croissant, which turns people into self-centered and ruthless creatures. D’Artagnan comes up with an audacious plan: She must become a musketeer and put an end to this nightmare! Together with the cheeky horse Holgär and the somewhat clumsy but courageous Portos, she sets off on her journey. Through epic adventures and wild confrontations, this trio of self-proclaimed musketeers prove that it’s worth believing in something, fighting for it, and standing up for one another – all for one and one for all!
Cast
Conductor: Yura Yang
Director: David Bösch
Duration: 70 minutes
Marlene Metzger as D‘Artagnan.
The play about the death of the rich man by Hugo von Hofmannsthal (Salzburg Festival 2004, Domplatz – in German). An ORF production.
Hofmannsthal’s “Play about the death of the rich man” with a beautiful view of Salzburg Cathedral in the backdrop was and is the annual audience magnet for the Salzburg Festival. Numerous international stars, from Curd Jürgens to Klaus Maria Brandauer, have appeared in this play. In Christian Stückl’s successful production it is Peter Simonischek, who is brought before God’s throne as the moribund spendthrift to account for his dastardly life. Christian Stückl’s celebrated new interpretation of the Jedermann discontinued several conventions of the long-term Salzburg production tradition and pointedly focused on the Christian fundamental idea of the mystery play: What is man when faced with death? God himself appears – as the poor neighbor, a bum with plastic bags, the lowest of our brothers. Stückl retrieves death from the sphere of a distant allegory and turns him into a real, yes even a vital rival of Everyman. Film star Veronica Ferres plays the Paramour, and Tobias Moretti, playing a spectacular devil, also appears as the good companion: As friend and seducer in one.
Cast
Director: Christian Stückl | Duration: 100 minutes | With: Peter Simonischek (Everyman), Veronica Ferres (Paramour), Jens Harzer (Death), Tobias Moretti (Good companion/Devil), Rudolf Wessely (God/A poor neighbor), Elisabeth Rath (Deeds)
Peter Simonischek and Jens Harz.