CHAMPAGNE AND PARTIES - BUT MOSTLY MOZART

Champagne and parties - but mostly Mozart - Luxury Travel Magazine

Champagne and parties -
but mostly Mozart

By: Max and Jennie Suich, Issue 46 – Autumn 11

(Salzburg, Austria)

SALZBURG, SURROUNDED BY LAKES AND ROLLING GREEN HILLS, IS A DELICIOUS EUROPEAN SUMMER ALTERNATIVE TO THE AUSTRALIAN WINTER AT ANY TIME, BUT IN LATE JULY AND AUGUST THIS AUSTRIAN CITY, BIRTHPLACE OF MOZART, BECOMES A HAVEN FOR MUSIC AND DRAMA. MAX AND JENNIE SUICH ARE AMONG THE REGULARS AT THE SUMMER SALZBURG FESTIVAL EACH YEAR.

Salzburg’s Altstadt (the Old Town), all charming baroque icing, dimples, curls and spires, was spared the terrible bombing that Dresden, Berlin and other great German cities experienced during World War II, though the city’s key infrastructure like railway junctions and bridges were destroyed and the dome of its beautiful cathedral collapsed.

Now the dome is repaired, the city is a World Heritage site, worth the visit alone for a stroll through this living piece of history. And at the height of the summer, in late July and August, this Austrian city, birthplace of Mozart, becomes a haven for music, drama and the singer’s art at the Summer Salzburg Festival. This year the festival promises something special: two appearances by the brilliant Russian soprano Anna Nebretko. The three Mozart/Da Ponte operas, Figaro, Cosi fan tutte and Don Giovanni, produced amidst considerable controversy over the past three years by Claus Guth will, for the first time, all be performed in a single season this year.

Simon Rattle brings his hair and the Berlin Phil to give Mahler’s Seventh, and Daniel Barenboim brings the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, the extraordinary youth orchestra comprised of young Arab and Israeli musicians
(brought together originally by Barenboim and Edward Said in 1999 to provide a symbol of cultural union across the bitter religious and national barriers of the Middle East), to play Mahler and Beethoven.

Opera stars and great conductors come for the festival but so too do the glitterati and the celebrities, the A-list rich from New York and LA, Cleveland, and Boston, London, Paris, Berlin and Vienna exhibiting, not uncommonly, trophy wives and toy boys. This is a great opportunity for amusing people-watching, ideally from the first floor terrace of the main theatre, glass in hand, as the crowd mills-to-be-seen below. At interval amidst the beauty of the old city and the glory of the music on a beautiful summer night there are the champagne tents outside (disconcertingly under umbrellas promoting major sponsor Nestle’s Nespresso) to observe the passagiato, Salzburg style. Or if, like so many German visitors, black tie or not, beer and sausage is your go, that’s just around the corner.

You too might dress up and go with the flow though it is not absolutely necessary, despite the firm suggestion from Gerbert Schwaighofer. “If you go skiing, you take your skis? Of course! If you come to the Salzburg Festival, then you bring your black tie. You will see at least half of the audience here in formal evening wear.” These words of advice come from the financial - not the fashion - arbiter of the Salzburg Festival. Schwaighofer was the festival’s finance director for 10 years, retiring in December.

But Salzburg is loosening up. From our personal observation, at the first nights of major opera performances, fewer than half the patrons were in formal wear. At other performances much less than half. That’s what makes Salzburg fun. If you want to dress up, then you can.

So there’s more to the festival than just high society. But without the snob effect many of the sponsors and donors of millions of dollars of capital funds would not be so generous and Salzburg’s festival would be much more expensive or, more likely, history.

Enjoy it before the next great financial crash.

Best Choice For Stay & Dine Salzburg

Hotel Sacher, 10 minutes or so from the main halls on the edge of the river Salzach, is the centre of much of the Salzburg Festival action and is home to singers and conductors. Nearby is the celebrated Sacher grill where the traditional best of simple Austrian food is to be found; steaks and other grills and Wiener Schnitzel of course. Elsewhere in Salzburg, along with the relaxation of the dress code, have come more informal restaurants and bars where the food is a country mile from the old German/Austrian stodge. The trick is to lunch late and snack after the performances. We particularly like Restaurant Esszimmer, one Michelin star, a 15-minute walk along the river from the old town - excellent lunch menu, good wine list and at night they’ll hold the sweets and cheese until you return from the performance. The Restaurant Riedenburg, a little out of the old town, has good simple food such as wild mushroom risotto, a lovely garden setting for summer nights, and a relaxed atmosphere.

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