Strong women, hot opera

As the Salzburg Summer Festival comes to an end in five days’ time, Andreas Weitzer rounds up some of the performances that have left most of a mark on audiences.

The Salzburger Festspiele, taking place in Mozart’s city of birth every summer since 1920, is for many the world’s most prestigious opera, concert and drama festival. Expectations are high and visitors are usually hard to please; I have seen productions where protesters disrupted performances with boos and whistling. This year, festival president Helga Rabl-Stadler and artistic director Markus Hinterhaeuser had no reason to worry: singers, conductors and directors did anything but disappoint.

Salzburg’s programme is rolled out from July 20 to August 30, with first nights evenly distributed over this period. Performances are on for a handful of days only, to then make place for the next show. The venues Felsenreitschule, Grosses Festspielhaus and Haus fuer Mozart do not operate simultaneously. It is, therefore, almost impossible to see all important productions without staying the full 40 days.

My week started with Mozart’s The Magic Flute. The opera’s fantastical plot has certainly served Mozart’s musical flights of...