Salzburg Festival

Salzburg is an enchanting baroque city named by association with the local salt (salz) mines. It sits on the banks of the Salzach river and nestles in an awesome alpine landscape. Birthplace of a certain Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, every summer the city plays host to a festival of concerts, opera and drama.

For 2006 the Salzburg festival dates are July 24 to August 31 but 2006 is the 250th anniversary of Mozart’s 250th birthday so this will not be an ordinary festival year. All twenty-two of the composer’s operas, singspiels, and scenic fragments will be staged during this six week period. The celebrations will begin already on December 31, this year: in a New Year’s Eve Concert (to be repeated on New Year’s Day) Marc Minkowski and the Chamber Orchestra of Europe will ring in the anniversary celebrations. Performances will then continue throughout the year until December 5, the anniversary of the composer’s death, when a performance of Mozart’s Requiem will mark a worthy conclusion to the great anniversary year. Nikolaus Harnoncourt will conduct the Arnold Schönberg Chor and his own Concentus Musicus Wien.

Travel to Salzburg is easy and offers the full range of options. Salzburg Airport W.A. Mozart is located a mere 15 minutes from the city centre as is the central railway station and both provide good international and European connections. Salzburg is conveniently connected to Frankfurt via the CityNightLine. There are excellent train connections with Munich and a night train runs between London (Waterloo) and Munich.

Salzburg is only 130 km from Munich and there is a good motorway (A8), much used by Munich’s inhabitants for spending the weekend in the Alps! Other motorways connect with Villach (A10) and Vienna (A1). You can even cycle - check out the tour organised by Ciclismo.

In 1964 the world famous film "The Sound of Music" was made in Salzburg and to this day numerous visitors wanting to see the film locations for themselves flock to the city. Part of the European Community, the currency is Euros (EUR) and good accommodation is plentiful within the city and its surroundings.