Easter Festival balance sheet

Bella Italia is followed by pain and wonder in 2025

Bachler's contract in Salzburg ends in 2026. What will happen after that? The artistic director is looking calmly to the future.

(Bild: Tschepp Markus)

Dolce Vita at the Salzburg Easter Festival: Netrebko, Bach and DJs. Artistic Director Nikolaus Bachler takes stock and looks ahead to next year.

Maria Callas did it in Verona in 1947, now it was Anna Netrebko in Salzburg. Both opera divas made their debut as the street singer Gioconda in Amilcare Ponchielli's opera of the same name. It is considered one of the most difficult operas in the classical world to perform and cast. Callas first sang Gioconda 77 years ago in the Verona Arena and achieved world fame. Netrebko, who already has a similar kind of fame, celebrated her Salzburg comeback in this role at Easter.

Nikolaus Bachler (73) made this possible. As artistic director, he is responsible for the Easter Festival and has brought the best singers in the world to the Grosses Festspielhaus alongside Netrebko. "It was always clear to me that we would only stage La Gioconda in Salzburg if we got Netrebko and Jonas Kaufmann," says Bachler. Both agreed. Luca Salsi and Eve-Maud Hubeaux were also among the singers who worked hard on La Gioconda. The audience gave the performance an emotional ovation at the end.

Nikolaus Bachler had La Gioconda staged in Salzburg for the first time. He engaged the best: Jonas Kaufmann and Anna Netrebko, who made her comeback in Salzburg.

(Bild: BARBARA GINDL)

New electro and dance in the fall
For the opening, Bachler had Bach's St. John Passion performed with dancers. "I want to dust things off," says the artistic director. "Works were created hundreds of years ago. You can't help but stage them in a contemporary way". Conductor Antonio Pappano and this year's resident orchestra Dell'Accademia Nazionale di Santa Cecilia from Rome were also enthusiastic. For example with Giuseppe Verdi's Requiem. "With this version of the Requiem, it would be nice to die," says the former director of the Burgtheater.

Works were created hundreds of years ago. Mann has no choice but to stage a contemporary production.

Bachler über das Entstauben von Klassik-Werken

Bachler already "dusted himself off" last year with the engagement of German DJ Westbam. This year, he followed up with the British electro DJ Max Cooper. "When 1,400 young people who are not primarily interested in classical music come to the Felsenreitschule, that's quite something," says the artistic director, explaining the modern excursion. This is set to continue in 2025. "In the fall, we will present new developments in electro and dance."

Wounds and wonders in the coming year
While this year's Easter week focused primarily on productions from Italy, the land of longing for Austrians, next year will be all about wounds and miracles. New residencies will start with Esa-Pekka Salonen and the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra. Mussorgsky's "Khovanchina" will already reveal their role and a certain heaviness in the program. No less difficult, Mahler, Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky are also scheduled in concert form. "Wounds and miracles go hand in hand with pain and hope," says the artistic director, looking to the future.

Bachler's contract in Salzburg ends at the end of the next edition. He has already set the course for 2026 with the return of the Berliner Philharmoniker and companion Kirill Petrenko. Will he stay too? "They haven't talked to me about that yet," he says. "I'm quite a bit older, I already enjoy a certain amount of freedom."