Salzburg Guide for Musicians

​A magical city... Salzburg ! It is a small city in Vienna, famous with its views.. But I can't describe the feeling when you are there at the time of Salzburg Festival ! A city full of famous musicians, music lovers traveled from all around the world, and the newest opera productions that will be discussed for a long time after their premiere... The most excited trip of my life, I can say. 
Other than being and witnessing to that magical productions, let's see what else is there for musicians.

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Mozart Wohnhaus
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Well, it is the city of Mozart ! There are two of the Mozart family house's that is turned into a musuem. One of them is the Mozart Wohnhause - Dance Master's House. From 1773 to 1787, Mozart family lived here. You can see Mozart's fortepiano, among with important portraits and letters. If you have Salzburg Card, you should visit the place, but if you have limited time or budget, the other Mozart House is comprehensive. No need to visit both houses :)

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Mozarts Geburtshaus
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Here is the famous Mozart house, it's Mozart's birth house. You can see the original house of that time, it is exciting to imagine an actual boy living there, unfamous. It takes you to the live of Mozart as well as the other family members including Mozart's sons. This museum definitely should be in your list. My favorite part was the 3D exhibition of different Mozart opera productions. You can see different interpretations of the same piece, it's really exciting. 

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Mozartplatz
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You can't possibly miss Mozartplatz in Salzburg -you can't miss anywhere actually :). In the heart of the city, there is a Mozart statue. This sculpture is unveiled in 1842 in the presence of Mozart's sons. Nowadays, it is a great place to sit and enyoj the street musicians who perform extraordinarily, it is so unusual for me to hear them play classical music, but this is the place for it. 

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Cafe Tomaselli
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You should definitely visit Cafe Tomaselli, one of the oldest cafe houses with it's 300 years of history. It was such a pleasure to sit and drink coffee in the morning when I had a opera at the night and have no rush at all. The all purpose was to enjoy the city, the festival, the coffee. And don't forget that Mozarts get their tea and coffee from there also back then.
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The Spirit of Mozart

There's an exhibiton by Marina Abramovic called ''The Spirit of Mozart''. There is one very very high chair representing Mozart's spirit. And there were some chairs facing to it for us to sit, close our eyes and lose all sense of time for the sake of Mozart.
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Karajanplatz
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At the end of the historic gate, there is a place dedicated to famous Salzburg born conductor Herbert von Karajan. This squares dated back to 17th century. Let us thank Karajan again to be the founder of Salzburg Easter Festival in 1967 and Whitsun Festival in 1973. 
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Haus für Mozart

​It is a famous concerthouse of Salzburg since 1925. First, it was called ''Kleines Festspielhaus'' than after the remodelling changed into 'Haus für Mozart'.  It is also once of the concert halls that is used for Salzburg Festival. I should say I admire this place's acoustics. I felt every chord of Salome in my lungs. Yes, that good. And I had a standing seat, imagine that. 
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Grosses Festspielhaus
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It is one of largest concert halls in the world ! It is again used as a concert hall for Salzburg Festival. It was completed on 1960 and witnessed great venues since it's opening. I enjoyed ''The Magic Flute'' very much in that hall. 
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Salzburg Festival

Attending to Salzburg Festival was my dream since I wrote my first critic ever for the 2005 Salzburg Festival Production of La Traviata to my blog. It was a passion for me to see new productions of the pieces that I know very well. I try to go to the different opera houses around the world, watch them on live or on DVD. But, nothing ever excite me like Salzburg Festival. 

I admit that when I was signing for the tickets, it was a momentary decision. I had just returned from Vienna at that time - seeing Strauss's Daphne on Vienna State Opera <3- and I saw that tickets are being sold. You enter your price range and the preference of date and the performance. You pay but you don't get seated right away. After I bought my tickets, I wrote the dates to my online calender, they said they send me an e-mail. After a while, I completely forgot about it. Months later, as I was going over my calender, I saw that I wrote 'Salzburg Festival?' to my calender and I couldn't remember at all. I was like 'did i really do that?'. I hadn't received any e-mail, so I send one to the festival commitee. They returned that yes, I had tickets. It was an immediate decision of buying a time-off from work and buy plane tickets.

I there I was. Alone. As a graduated musicologist - yey-. I realized that I wasn't just an enthusiasts to see 'what it is like'. I really know the pieces, I was really curious. It was a wonderful experience. 
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The spirit of festival is really great. The small city is full of visitors at that time, so it was really hard to find an hotel. At the time of the opera, the public transportation is free. Around the time of the opera, you see that everyone is walking with their fancy suits to the concert halls. Although there is still a tradition to go to the opera and classical music concerts with black tie, it is not a must, and young people usually go with ordinary clothes. But this special event, everyone was wearing a suit / taxido and a fancy dress. But the most hilarious part of all - everyone has wrinkles on their dresses. We were all tourists. 

During the festival, everyday around 18.00 - before the opera of that night starts, there is a openair cinema showing the previous years' performances. 

The City of Music

When I was doing my musicology thesis, my subject was different stagings of La Boheme. And living in Turkey, I couldn't find any production I want to examine easily. I found so hard to watch them online etc. When I stepped into Salzburg, I entered every music shop I see. And there they were. All in order under the letter 'L'.  It was that easy there. I laughed involuntarily once I saw all the productions side by side. 

Related Entries

Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) Salzburg Festival 2018 Production

Lydia Steier created a lovely Magic Flute for the Salzburg Festival. Mozart's most famious opera interpreted as a fairytale. Magic Flute was often searched for deeper meanings due to being a composition of Mozart. However, there is no reason for that. The libretto and the intention of the opera has no clues of hidden messages.

Salome - Salzburg Festival 2018 Production

​In this year's summer Salzburg Festival, the most expected production in my opinion was Richard Strauss's atonal opera Salome. If you are not familiar with the opera, here is the link to read all about it. Under the baton of Franz Welser-Möst, Wiener Philharmoniker was extra-ordinary.

Ece Demirel