- Title: AUSTRIA: ROCK MUSIC MAKES ITS DEBUT AT SALZBURG FESTIVAL
- Date: 22nd July 1998
- Summary: VARIOUS OF DRESS REHEARSAL FOR PLAY / OPERA 'JEDERMANN'
- Embargoed: 6th August 1998 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: SALZBURG, AUSTRIA
- Country: Austria
- Reuters ID: LVA8NGKJVF1DV909NQEGOYT8F4GU
- Story Text: Rock music makes its debut at this year's Salzburg Festival but the city in which Mozart was born is still not quite ready for the Spice Girls.
Artistic director Gerard Mortier, who has made radical changes since stepping into the shoes of the late Herbert von Karajan in 1991, is staging the world premiere of a rock musical called " Soon", by American film director Hal Hartley, at the five-week event starting on Friday.
Director Gerard Mortier has braved traditionalists in his efforts to add a 20th century flavour to Austria's leading music and drama festival, first held 78 years ago.
In contrast, von Karajan, who died in 1989, was criticised by modernists for stifling innovation.
A performance of Kurt Weill's "The Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny" kicks off this year's opera programme.
Based on a text by Bertolt Brecht, this rarely performed piece is a dark 1930s vision of a city where anything goes.
The programme includes other lesser known modern operas such as "Katja Kabanowa" by Janacek, "King Roger" by Karol Szymanowski and Olivier Messiaen's "Saint Francois d'Assise".
Hartley's musical is about a religious sect waiting for the apocalypse.The music resembles a film soundtrack.
"Film has replaced a lot of what opera used to offer -- an impressive show, great music," Mortier told Reuters in an interview."In the 19th century, 'Titanic' would have been an opera." CLASSICS PREDOMINATE The classics still figure prominently.High ticket sales demonstrate that Mortier's approach is continuing to draw Salzburg's well-heeled devotees.
Among this mainstream opera offerings, Verdi's "Don Carlos" and Wagner's "Parsifal" -- the latter with Placido Domingo -- are sold out, as are all concerts by the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.
Mortier dislikes what he sees as artificial distinctions between the traditional and the modern.He also sees no reason why opera should not appeal to the young as well as the affluent middle-aged.
"When you listen to a Verdi opera you hear that boom boom boom -- just like when a rock singer plays his guitar," he says.
"My aim is to tell stories that really reach people.A lot of people are not familiar with the art of our time." On the drama front this year, staples such as Hugo von Hofmannsthal's "Jedermann" are joined by contemporary works by Elfriede Jelinek and Robert Lepage.
After seven years, during which he has often been at loggerheads with eminent artists and local politicians, Mortier remains convinced that his vision for Salzburg is the right one.
Once unthinkable steps such as a reduction in the number of Mozart operas -- traditionally a festival mainstay -- now cause little controversy.
Only two Mozart operas are being performed this year -- "The Marriage of Figaro" and "The Abduction from the Seraglio" -- compared with five in 1997.The figure will rise again next year when a new Mozart cycle is launched.
Mortier believes this approach helps to keep Mozart fresh.
"Listen to a Mozart opera after having listened to other music and you will hear it with different ears," he says.
"That's why we perform Mozart less in some years than others -- so he can be listened to again." Next year's Mozart cycle will help to raise some of the funds needed for future ventures.
In April, an American Salzburg enthusiast donated three million schillings ($2400,000) to the festival, enabling it to commission three operas by contemporary composers for the turn of the millennium.
"We need new work that relates to the themes of our time," said Mortier.
Last year, Salzburg's provincial governor complained that Mortier's programme was too demanding and said visitors should be offered "lighter fare." The Belgian is unrepentant."It is clear that the public is much cleverer than this," he says.
His innovations have not dampened the enthusiasm of tourists for one of Europe's most stunning cities.
According to a study by the Salzburg Chamber of Commerce, vistors to the 1997 festival injected around 2.1 billion schillings into the local economy.
Two thirds of the Festival's patrons are regulars, staying an average of seven days and spending 2,500 schillings per day.
A top price seat at the opera can set serious music lovers back some 4,000 schillings, but cheaper tickets are available for as little as 300.Around 18,000 tickets are given away free for rehearsals.
"In the 21st century, the art of the 20th will be the art of the past.My task here is to pay homage to the incredible art of this century," he says."I think people are up to tackling it.(100 Austrian schillings = $12. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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