Herbert von Karajan Salzburg
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Salzburg Easter Festival 2025

The Salzburg Easter Festival is a major cultural event and an integral part of the cultural life of the city of Mozart. Founded by Herbert von Karajan in 1967, the festival attracts people from the surrounding area and from all over the world.

What tradition the Easter Festival is and how, almost 60 years after its foundation, something new is still finding its way into this Salzburg crown jewel, gaysalzburg.at editor Sebastian Brandstätter talked to Christoph Koch, press officer of the Salzburg Easter Festival.

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gaysalzburg.at: The Easter Festival attracts people from near and far, but also from all over the world. What makes the Easter Festival such an internationally significant event?

Christoph Koch: What is special about the Easter Festival is its family character. Despite its internationality, we preserve the community tradition of the founding in the 60s. The combination of internationality, exciting artists and a family atmosphere makes the Easter Festival unique. In addition, since Nikolaus Bachler has taken over the artistic direction, we have brought in contemporary dance and electronic music as an integral part. The combination of tradition and novelty, internationality and family character makes the Easter Festival special.

gaysalzburg.at: This year’s motto of the Easter Festival is ‘Wounds and Wonders’. How did this motto come about and where can it be found in the programme?

Christoph Koch: The motto is always a collaboration between the artists and the artistic director. The motto ‘Wounds and Wonders’ can be found in all the pieces we play. The theme of wounds runs through the opera ‘CHOWANSCHTSCHINA’ by Modest Mussorgski, which tells of the political drama of 17th-century Russia. Many parallels can be drawn between the opera and the situation in Russia today. Where the miracle again finds its focus very strongly, is in the choral concert ‘Elijah’ by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy. The concert tells the story of the biblical prophet Elijah, which is full of miracles.

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gaysalzburg.at: Since 2023, the Easter Festival programme has also included dance and electronic music. How did that come about?

Christoph Koch: The basic idea was, of course, to make the event accessible to as many interested people as possible – especially to offer younger people perhaps new concepts. It was very nice to see that in recent years a completely different audience has come into contact with the Easter Festival through the dance and electronic music sections. Of course, as a communicator of the Easter Festival, it is my dream that one day these people will also go to a concert or an opera performance, thus expanding the community even further.

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gaysalzburg.at: With regard to dance, the French dancer and choreographer Angelin Preljocaj plays a central role at this year’s Easter Festival. What is his significance for the dance scene and for this year’s festival?

Christoph Koch: Of course we are always looking for people who bring their own exciting dance language with them. Added to that is a dance company that is fully committed to the choreographer. The Easter Festival deals with the themes of ‘death’ and ‘resurrection’ at this time of year. In the piece by Preljocaj titled ‘Requiem(s)’, the choreographer deals with death and all the feelings that the death of a loved one can trigger. In interviews, Preljocaj always says so beautifully that he sees the piece as a celebration of life. According to him, a positive world can arise from the great pain of loss.

gaysalzburg.at: DJ Cambis Sharegh plays a central role in the electronic section this year. Unfortunately, he died suddenly in November. His music is still part of the Easter Festival programme. What are your thoughts on this?

Christoph Koch: Cambis was our absolute favourite candidate for the electronic music. I know him from my time in Munich. He is an electronic artist who thinks very conceptually and throws himself into a project like this one. I was sure that the motto ‘Wounds and Wonders’ would immediately trigger something in him. His background in Iran, from which he fled at a very young age – these are often personal dramas associated with such a topic. He was hooked. He brought in artists he had worked with. Cambis got the Persian singer Sogoli Livani on board. You could tell that it had become a very personal project of his. His sudden death, of course, affected us all deeply.

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I am very happy that, in addition to Livani, we also have the two Munich DJ legends ‘Milk & Sugar’ on the team, who were very good friends with Cambis. Together, in memory of Cambis Sharegh, we will finish ‘Wounds & Wonders’.

gaysalzburg.at: To finish with, a more personal question for you. For those who have never been to the festival, what would you recommend from your personal experience that everyone should see?

Christoph Koch: The opera ‘CHOWANSCHTSCHINA’, even if it sounds difficult at first. But in my opinion, it’s worth getting involved with it. It’s a beautiful bittersweet music. It’s fantastically cast by the singers. Even if you don’t know much about opera, it’s absolutely worth getting into this world. It is also being staged by Simon McBurney, a very famous Hollywood actor who has appeared in many films, including the new Nosferatu, Mission: Impossible and Harry Potter. He does very little theatre work, and the Easter Festival is showing one of McBurney’s rare directorial works. This opportunity won’t come up again for at least the next ten years, so it’s well worth it.

gaysalzburg.at: Christoph Koch, thank you very much for the interview.

Salzburg Easter Festival 2025: 12–21 April 2025. Click here for this year’s programme.

Published 4. February 2025
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