Opera House
The Haus für Mozart at Hofstallgasse 1 is the Salzburg Festival’s mid-sized venue, primarily used for Mozart operas during the summer festival. Originally the Kleines Festspielhaus, it was renamed in 2006 after renovation to reflect its programming identity. Around 1,580 seats, acoustically suited to the scale of Mozart’s operatic works.
The Salzburg Festival was founded in 1920 with Mozart at the centre of its identity, and the Haus für Mozart is where that identity is most directly expressed in physical form. The venue’s predecessor, the Kleines Festspielhaus, was conceived as the intimate counterpart to the grander hall: a space where Mozart’s operas, written for courts and small theatres rather than the vast 19th-century houses that came later, could be heard at something closer to their intended scale.
The 2006 renovation and renaming reflected a decision to make that purpose explicit in the architecture’s public identity. The hall sits in the same complex as the Grosses Festspielhaus and Felsenreitschule, the trio of venues forming the operational core of the Salzburg Festival. Access to all three from the Altstadt is on foot, a few minutes from Residenzplatz.
Outside the Festival season, the Haus für Mozart operates as a year-round performance space, hosting concerts and productions that use the facility when the main event is not running. But the venue’s reputation and demand profile are shaped almost entirely by its role in the summer Festival, when tickets for the major Mozart productions are among the most contested in European opera.
Do it here
These experiences include this place in their authored route.
The Salzburg Festival Halls Guided Tour gives access to the three main Salzburg Festival venues on Hofstallgasse: the Grosses Festspielhaus with its 30-meter-wide stage, the Felsenreitschule carved directly into the Mönchsberg cliff, and the intimate Haus fur Mozart.
People
singerb. 1971
The soprano who defined the Salzburg Festival's public face for the first two decades of the 21st century. Her 2002 Donna Anna in Mozart's Don Giovanni was the international breakthrough. No singer since Maria Callas has been so completely identified with a single festival house.
singerb. 1966
One of the most celebrated mezzo-sopranos of her generation, and Artistic Director of the Salzburg Whitsun Festival (Pfingstfestspiele) since 2012. One of the few singers whose connection to Salzburg is both personal (as performer) and institutional (as director).
director1943 - 2014
The most transformative post-founding figure in the Salzburg Festival's history. Artistic Director 1992-2001, Mortier completely reinvented the Festival, replacing Karajan-era conservatism with radical new productions. Deeply controversial, but he made the Festival once again the most discussed event in the operatic world.
director1932 - 1988
The stage director who shaped the visual identity of the Salzburg Festival's Mozart productions for nearly two decades. Working with Karl Bohm and Karajan, his stagings were filmed and broadcast worldwide. He died after collapsing at the Festival during rehearsals in 1988.
singer1888 - 1976
One of the greatest sopranos of the 20th century and one of the most significant personalities in Salzburg Festival history. Richard Strauss wrote several roles with her voice in mind. She fled the Nazi regime in 1938 and founded the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara. She also played a documented role in launching the Trapp Family Singers.
Organizations
One of the world's most prestigious performing arts festivals. Held annually late July to end of August. Founded 1920 by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Max Reinhardt, Richard Strauss, Franz Schalk, and Alfred Roller. Inaugural event: Jedermann on Domplatz. Herbert von Karajan defined the postwar era. Opera, drama, concerts.
Compact Whitsun weekend festival. Directed since 2012 by Cecilia Bartoli. Historically informed performance, Baroque opera, rare repertoire. Intimate, focused, stylistically adventurous.
