Board of Trustees moves out

Festival backs Hinterhäuser

Festival director Markus Hinterhäuser has recently come under criticism.

(Bild: TOBIAS STEINMAURER / APA / picturedesk.com)

Festival director Markus Hinterhäuser has come under increasing criticism this week. Now the Festival's highest body, the Board of Trustees, is stepping in to support the artistic director.

This week, the management style of Festival Director Markus Hinterhäuser has come under fire from various quarters. The Board of Trustees has now responded to the accusations in a statement. "The Board of Trustees stands united behind the Salzburg Festival Directorate," it says.

To explain: the Board of Trustees is the highest body of the Festival with representatives from the federal, provincial and city governments. The Board of Directors is the management of the Festival with President Kristina Hammer, Artistic Director Markus Hinterhäuser and Commercial Director Lukas Crepaz. According to the press release, Hinterhäuser has played a "significant role" in the successes of recent years.

The dismissal of director of drama Marina Davydova was not a "decision made solely by artistic director Markus Hinterhäuser", the board of trustees clarifies. "He would not have been authorized to do so", the press release states. 

Criticism of Hinterhäuser has come from various quarters in recent days. Director Michael Sturminger, whose "Jedermann" production scheduled for 2024 was surprisingly canceled by Hinterhäuser at short notice, told ORF that after the departure of former director Bettina Hering, he had the feeling "that you have to say: Kevin alone at home. There is no longer any regulation, suddenly someone came up with the idea: 'No one will tell me to stop now'."

The former head of drama at the Vienna Festival and later Ruhrtriennale artistic director Stefanie Carp said in a statement that the approach to the "highly respected, creative, intelligent and courageous Marina Davydova" was "shocking in human, ethical and professional terms". Davydova, who had to flee Russia because of her protest against the war, had advised several Russian artists in exile free of charge who needed her support for a small festival in Berlin. "Is that reason enough to sack her without notice?" asks Carp, who sees a "crude and arbitrary power and arrogance" that is unacceptable.

And the author and former director of the Stefan Zweig Center Salzburg, Klemens Renoldner, spoke of "communication problems" and "mismanagement". On Thursday afternoon, there was reportedly a "crisis meeting" with Governor Wilfried Haslauer, who sits on the Board of Trustees, in which the Board of Directors and Chairman of the Board of Trustees Hans Scharfetter took part.