Sighs of relief as Salzburg saves one of its sponsors

The festival has already lost two sponsors this year and more are threatening to go when Alexander Pereira clears his director’s desk at the end of the month.

There was reassuring today, though, that the German car-makers Audi have signed on again for the next four years. That’s what they call Vorsprung.

press release:

Salzburg/Ingolstadt, August 1, 2014 – Audi today signed a new four-year agreement as main sponsor of the Salzburg Festival. The carmaker has been a partner to the festival since 1994. Both parties want to work even more closely together in future and intend to launch joint projects with an international reach. To mark the partnership’s 20th anniversary, Audi has funded a new wireless microphone system for the festival, allowing audiences at “Jedermann” to enjoy a listening experience without interference.

Shortly before today’s premiere of Richard Strauss’s “Rosenkavalier”, Rupert Stadler, CEO of AUDI AG, and Festival President Dr. Helga Rabl-Stadler announced that the collaboration will continue until 2018. “The Salzburg Festival and Audi are united by a partnership that dates back 20 years. As the brand with the credo ‘Vorsprung durch Technik’, we are absolutely committed to creativity, which allows us to excel time and again. We will continue to pursue our partnership in this spirit,” explains Rupert Stadler.

“Audi is an irreplaceable partner for us in many respects. As main sponsor, Audi allows us to present programs that we would be unable to finance from our normal budget. The festival’s guest appearance in Ingolstadt is one example of the close cooperation in the artistic domain and a glittering finale to the Audi Summer Concerts in the city. And the Audi Night in Salzburg exudes the glamor that even the founding fathers desired for the Salzburg Festival. We want to consolidate this fruitful cooperation by means of new projects,” reports Rabl-Stadler.