Salzburg crows over orchestra coup
NewsThe Salzburg Easter Festival is banging the drum over its recapture of the Berlin Philharmonic from the rival festival at Baden-Baden. The Berlin conductor Kirill Petrenko previously led a triumphant era at Bavarian State Opera with Salzburg’s intendant Nicolaus Bachler. They are happily together again.
Here’s the press release:
The Salzburg Easter Festival will once again have a permanent resident orchestra from 2026: the Berlin Philharmonic. Herbert von Karajan founded the Easter Festival together with this orchestra in 1967 and now the orchestra is returning to the tradition-rich festival on the Salzach. “Exciting years lie ahead – until 2025 we want to welcome a different top orchestra to the Easter Festival every year,” says Nikolaus Bachler, who has taken over as Artistic Director of the Salzburg Easter Festival in 2022. “However, I am very pleased that we have succeeded in tying the founding orchestra to this very special festival again – because the Berlin Philharmonic and Salzburg have a shared history of more than 40 years, which will blossom anew with principal conductor Kirill Petrenko from 2026.”
“I would like to congratulate those responsible for the Salzburg Easter Festival, especially Artistic Director Nikolaus Bachler, on signing the Berliner Philharmoniker under Kirill Petrenko from the 2026 season, says Wilfried Haslauer, Governor of the State of Salzburg. “As one of the most important ensembles in the world with its distinctive profile, the orchestra shaped the Easter Festival for almost 45 years. The return to Salzburg is a continuation of a remarkable artistic and cultural success story and makes me extremely happy.”
pictured: Bachler with Petrenko. press photo Bavarian State Opera/Wilfried Hösl
Although this is very good news for Salzburg and their patrons, it would be interesting to know how – and by whom – their return will be financed. The reason they left originally was because they were lured by hugely inflated financial offers from Baden-Baden-based oligarchs. Those are now few and far between. If Salzburg are to continue with their very high prices, they need to continue to attract high-end audiences and Berlin is undoubtedly a major attraction, as, of course were Thielemann and Dresden before they were unceremoniously kicked out. Bachler’s fall-back plan to have an annual change of conductor/orchestra seems not to be finding favour at the box office, so today’s news is definitely positive.
It’s much too early to tell, if the interim with yearly changing orchestras is not selling as well on the box office. The first festival of that kind is still more than three months away.
I see no reason why it shouldn’t attract the high-roller audiences. To the contrary.
you are right as the program looks amazing compared with what the previous ones….
Ruzicka was such a bad choice for Salzburg, wasn’t he enough when he ran the summ er festival? such an overrated personality!
After all it seems they are on the right track with Bachler – the news from today sounds amazing – Petrenko atm peerless and bravo Salzburg Easter Festival as your summer program sounds awful:
Marthaler and Metzmacher for Falstaff….are they blind and deaf?Welser-Moest for Macbeth?
Can it be true that this is Mr Hinterhaeuser’s planning?
Wasn’t he responsible for the killing of the Vienna Festival?
Martin Kusej for Figaro with mediocre Raphael Pichon and last not least the overrated hype Currentzis…
Didn’t Kusej resign as they wouldn’t continue his contract at Vienna’s main Theater, the Burgtheater?
No need to waste lots of money and one can plan a nice summer in the South as Bayreuth sounds similar awful
The changing orchestras thing was always just a short term solution, Bachler’s goal was always to get Berlin back to Salzburg but he needed someone to fill the gap. It’s been talked about ever since he signed the contract, way before he got rid of Thielemann. That he has known Petrenko since he gave him his first job at the Volksoper probably didn’t hurt in the process. And congrats to him, a lot of people say that Petrenko/BPO is the best opera combo (even if they aren’t an opera orchestra) you can get in Germany these days – and there are few to rival them internationally.
let’s face it – it’s the top and Petrenko is mostly responsible for making Munich number 1 worldwide – look what’s going on there at the moment – of course Bachler is a professional unlike the man in summer or at so many other houses – the list sadly is endless – hardly any quality left and the worst definitely Bayreuth!
Indeed. as a team, Petrenko/Bachler were absolutely spectacular in Munich, great mutual respect, symbiosis, and tangible success – the opera productions were always sold out by the way, whether regietheater or more traditional.
Bachler has exceptional impresario talent, deep understanding of the opera theater and of music itself. It is no accident that Munich Opera achieved great success and deservedly earned many accolades during the decade or so while he presided. Kirill Petrenko is an amazing conductor, a giant of our time and for posterity. And he loves conducting opera! So this promises to be a wonderful team again, with a great orchestra.
On the other hand, LaScala, Vienna, the Met, and Paris deteriorated sharply during those years and years that followed. Despite having big budgets and far more questionable sponsors than Munich.
A major win for Salzburg was when they persuaded Bachler to head their Easter festival. (And Cecilia Bartoli to run their Whitsun festival a decade ago, by the way.)
years ago I was once there and the audience mentioned the Festival gets hardly any support so it’s mostly privately funded
Chapeau but in times like ours rightly so – most socialist countries should finally wake up and make managers of their many institutions do the fund raising – only then they might stop asking charlatans working on stage as they are causing the exodus of audiences in their government funded theaters
the rubbish needs to end and fortunately some major artists like Philippe Jourdan and Jonas Kaufmann finally spoke out – some more courageous will follow