Easter Festival

After Westbam comes the bedroom DJ

(Bild: Erika Mayer)

Today at the Easter Festival: Electronic night music at the Felsenreitschule with British sound designer Max Cooper

The Easter Festival literally struck a completely new note last year when it asked the German star DJ Westbam, of all people, to create an evening of Wagner's music. His interpretation and new arrangement of the compositions in combination with orchestra and visual effects in the Felsenreitschule laid the foundation for a successful new section at the festival: electronic music.

With sound designer Max Cooper from Great Britain, the Easter Festival intends to continue this success story this year. He has announced "a meditation on the form that creates us and the world in which we live". As this year's festival is themed around Italy, Cooper has also thrown himself into the spirit and passion of Italy and delved deeper into the country's rich cultural past.

Electronic sounds from music producer Max Cooper.

(Bild: Alex Kozobolis)

Nevertheless, being part of the Salzburg program still doesn't feel completely natural to him, as he explains in the documentary accompanying the Wilderthorn project: "I have my whole bedroom full of synthesizers and suddenly I'm put in one of the most famous concert halls in the world. So I feel like a bedroom DJ who's cheated his way into classical high culture, but I'm confident in my craft and believe that electronic music culture is just as rich in art as any other form of music."

Science will also eventually find its way into the performance, after all Cooper has a PhD in bioinformatics and often incorporates research into the fundamentals of nature and society into his performances, which are linked through a range of artistic media such as sound and music or immersive installations. He will also receive musical support from the French-Cypriot soprano Sarah Aristidou and the Belgian cellist and electronic composer Niels Orens. The Electro concert already proved to be an exciting break in the Easter Festival program last year and promises to be able to achieve this effect again with Max Cooper and to open the doors to a newer audience. In contrast to the rest of the program, this concert visit is also quite affordable at 40 euros per ticket.

Larissa Schütz