Salzburg Festival issues 70,000 invitations
mainMessage from the directors today:
Good news in challenging times: Our new programme is currently being printed. 70,000 copies should be delivered to you, our faithful customers all over the world before the holidays and the New Year.
And starting on 10 December, you will find the 2021 programme online at www.salzburgfestival.at.
As promised, this coming summer we will present important productions in the opera, drama and concert departments which were postponed from the summer of 2020, extending the centenary celebrations of the Salzburg Festival into the autumn of 2021…
Reducing some of the pressure of decision-making, while also enabling us to observe the development of the coronavirus pandemic a bit longer, as previously announced, we have set a much later deadline for submitting your orders, i.e. 28 February 2021. On that date, your reservation becomes binding, and we will do our utmost to process all orders as soon as possible. If it then turns out that attending a performance is impossible due to official regulations (e.g. quarantine requirements), of course you will be able to cancel your ticket(s) and we will refund the purchase price.
Hopefully, however, the vaccinations will be able to drive out the pandemic. And thus, we hope, for all our sakes, that 2021 will be a Festival year as we love them – full of unforgettable artistic experiences and interesting encounters with friends from all over the world.
Kindest regards,
Helga Rabl-Stadler, Markus Hinterhäuser and Lukas Crepaz
Directorate of the Salzburg Festival
Mad idea, we will have covid-19 with us for the next few years at least until cases/100,000 show a decrease and R numbers stay below 1.
Austria locked down earlier than UK and its excess deaths are still much lower, but the 14-day cumulative number of cases and deaths/100,000 is increasing since the summer, worse now than both UK and Ireland.
The vaccines being developed have no evidence in peer review of preventing viral transmission, thus one could still infect someone even vaccinated hence the vaccinated will still have to wear masks.
The other issue is length of immunity, Pfizer et al have not published anything in peer review and cannot say how long the vaccine will give immunity. Effectively roll out is a big evaluation trial. They should have extended the phase III or ran a parallel study to determine these endpoints before roll out.
The trials also were not designed to demonstrate improvements in health outcomes eg reduced hospital admissions.
Yes, I agree there is no published evidence in peer review for the efficacy and safety of the Pfizer vaccine.
They cannot say how long the immunity might last nor if it will prevent viral transmission. If this is the case, herd immunity will not occur and masks will be worn forever. It would be unwise for anyone running a Arts or music festival to expect a panacea over night.
We will need time and more research to determine answers to these questions and they must be published in peer reviewed medical journals and not press releases.
The UK government claims it follows the science, this is not apparent at all. MHRA have been receiving 100s of FOI requests, they respond with “not in the public interest”. Mass vaccination will not be successful until we get transparency on clinical data and see published evidence in peer review.
@Doc Martin: I find your posts interesting and thought provoking. May I ask: given your words above, what do you think that the future of the performing arts will be for the next 5 or 10 years? Do you see a return to normalcy?
Looking forward to getting one. I’ll be there next year if they have any kind of festival
With cov-19 still about you probably won’t! The vaccine is still unproven, wise up.
I think we are all wise enough to be able to take our own informed decisions responsibly, thank you, Colonel Gussett. I was lucky enough to manage to attend Salzburg this year in spite of everything and without undue risk. I was rewarded with some exceptional performances, so thank God I did amid this arts famine.
Brilliant news. I will have the jab and go. Not interested in living to a great age without live music. Yes it’s risky but so is crossing the road.