Salzburg 2026

I just received the full program booklet for this year's festival and I'm wishing I could go. Every program shows a thoughtful creativity that is often missing in typical classical performances. The 150 page booklet, beautifully illustrated by drawings and sketches by Andy Warhol, lists nine opera productions, ranging from Mozart's Così Fan Tutte, to the Rossini rarity Il Viaggio a Reims, to Strauss Ariadne auf Naxos, to the rarely performed Saint Francis of Assisi by Messiaen, to newer works by Henze and Dusapin. The Vienna Philharmonic, as well as being the pit orchestra for most of the operas, will also give five concerts and the Berlin Philharmonic, two. There are also six guest orchestras including the Budapest Festival Orchestra and the Vienna Radio Symphony.

No fewer than nine concerts feature music by György Kurtág, this year's featured composer. There are also four concerts devoted to the music of Olivier Messiaen including performances of the Catalogue d'oiseaux, the Visions de l'Amen and the Quatuor pour la fin du temps. Opportunities to hear any of these works are rare, but they are all on the program in Salzburg in August.

There will be solo recitals by Grigory Sokolov, Pierre-Laurent Aimard, Evgeny Kissin, Arkadi Volodos, Alexander Malofeev, András Schiff, Igor Levit and Yuja Wang.

There is also a wealth of other performances of chamber music, spiritual music, vocal music and a whole bunch of Mozart. Not to mention a lot of theater works.

I very much wish I could go, but it comes down to a housing problem for me! The cost of attendance at the Salzburg festival is first and foremost the cost of spending two or three weeks in Salzburg in the summer. Even AirBnb places are expensive and hotels are out of sight. After that is the cost of the flights. Third is the cost of the actual tickets, which are really very reasonable considering the superb quality of the performances. Two years ago I spent only €1,400 for tickets to fifteen concerts. But housing can easily cost four to six thousand dollars. The other housing issue is that this summer I will be building my new house, so that is where  my funds are going.

But I am very much looking forward to the 2027 and 2028 festivals and hoping to be there.