No Summer Without Salzburg

For many years the best remedy for my yearly cultural summer depression has been the Salzburg Festival. It always feels a bit like Christmas to visit Salzburg during the festival season when the small, usually sleepy city becomes vibrant and lively. You will hardly bump into any real natives of this city during the summer as it will be populated by hoards of The Sound of Music fans. Also, a large migration of classical music and theater lovers takes place as Salzburg turns into Austria's capital of music during the five weeks of the festival.

During this time keeping an eye out on a walk through the city it is likely you will spot a famous face, be it one of the artists performing in the festival or a socialite in town to see a performance or two (Salzburg rolls out the red carpet for their premieres for a reason). If you don't become lucky during your walk I recommend a visit to the restaurant Triangel, located right in front of the small festival house where the festival top nobs like to meet for a chat. I also recommend this place if you're simply looking for a good restaurant as the food served at Triangel is delicious. For amusement reasons they name their dishes after the festival's artists every year. Who doesn't like to say, "I'll have a Michael Schade!" (FYI: Noodles and vegetables of the wok with fried fillet of char!)

Triangel. View from the small festival house.

If on top of all the greatness that is Salzburg in the summer you're also lucky enough to even be granted (one doesn't simply buy) a ticket to one of the performances you shall have the perfect Salzburg experience. The world class artist per performance ratio is exceeded hardly anywhere else. Will I be among those lucky ones this year? I have yet to find out. But either way I will most certainly not miss out on Salzburg during festival time.

Summertime - and the living is easy?

Here, I think, DuBose Heyward was partly wrong. Life is not all that easy as an opera lover since you are deprived of your everyday dose of culture during the summer. The doors of the beloved houses that provide music on the highest level stay closed (whatever happens in there during those months will remain a mystery - secret techno clubbings are my guess) and one has to come up with alternative ideas of indulging in the arts.

One of the few reasons why one should be happy to be living in a country like Austria is that one is offered a few alternatives in this regard. In the next months I shall share my explorations of these alternatives.

Film Festival in front of Vienna's city hall

My favorite alternative to bypass cultural summer dullness is the Film Festival am Wiener Rathausplatz as it can be attended spontaneously and without burdening your budget. Here opera, concert and ballet performances (mixed with a little pop culture here and there) are shown every night from July until September. The presenters make sure not to forget the big names of opera. Hence, you can spend 3 hours of your warm summer evenings with Juan Diego Flórez, Anna Netrebko or Jonas Kaufmann - without paying extortionate entrance fees. You're in for a treat on September 3 when they'll broadcast a Simone Boccanegra live from the Wiener Staatsoper with the likes of Plácido Domingo, Ferruccio Furlanetto and Barbara Frittoli.

How often have you wished to have an alcoholic beverage handy during a performance? This is the chance for you! For lovers of food and drinks this film festival will make your heart beat faster as you will be able to see a world class performance whilst enjoying half a liter of wine cooler (or more) and food from one of the numerous food stands. And for the nostalgics amongst you who miss the shushers from your local opera house for the more authentic opera experience you will most certainly find some of them here as well trying to establish quiet in a public place like this.