Salzburg is a musical city, and it has especially close ties to Mozart and his work. It was here, at number 9 in the Getreidegasse, that he was born on January 27th, 1756, a date that has been celebrated in style in the city since the bicentenary in1956. Year after year, the city's Mozarteum Foundation hosts Mozart Week, a real treat for aficionados of the great composers work. The festival offers an additional incentive to travel to this pretty Alpine city, known and loved by many as the home of the von Trapp family in the Sound of Music.
Although tourists flock to Salzburg to follow in the footsteps of the von Trapps, the townsfolk are even more aware of their earlier musical son, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and all around the city you'll find places connected to the composer including the house where he was born and his later home in what was then Hannibalplatz (now Makartplatz 8). You'll also find plenty of opportunities to hear his music – operas, concerts, chamber music – and never more so than during Mozart Week.
International musicians renowned for their interpretation of Mozart's work, including big names such as Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Andras Schiff and Marc Minkowski, will come together at this festival, which will also be attended by orchestras of the calibre of the Vienna Philharmonic and Les Musiciens du Louvre from Grenoble, as well as other renowned ensembles such as the Hagen Quartet and the Artemis Quartet. The programme will feature the world class conductors Daniel Barenboim and Ivor Bolton, with the latter scheduled to round off the event on February 5 with a concert in which he leads the Mozarteum Orchestra.
Although classical music is the main focus of Mozart Week, it doesn't stop there: there will also be a chance to discover the talent of today's local musicians with contemporary works and concerts offering other perspectives and melodies. One highlight this year will be the world premiere of an interdisciplinary project by choreographer Sasha Waltz and composer Mark Andre.
The settings for the concerts will be the Great Hall of the Mozarteum, the House of Mozart, the Great Festival Hall and the Solitar Hall of the Mozarteum University. And for those wishing to discover more about the music, the man behind the music, and the artists who perform his work, a number of seminars, workshops and discussions are planned to complement the concerts.
Further information: Salzburg Mozart Foundation