Salzburg's main permanent theatre for opera, drama, and ballet, built in 1893 by Fellner and Helmer. The year-round alternative to the summer Salzburg Festival.
The Story
The Salzburg Festival gets all the attention, but it runs for a few weeks in summer. For the rest of the year, the Salzburger Landestheater is what keeps serious performing arts in the city.
The building was designed by Ferdinand Fellner and Hermann Helmer, the Viennese partnership that built theatre architecture the way other firms built railway stations: prolifically, expertly, and across the entire former Habsburg empire. Their historicist style, with its layered facades and well-engineered auditoriums, gave dozens of Central European cities their opera houses. Salzburg's is among the better examples.
The Landestheater runs opera, drama, and ballet across a full season from September through June, with a resident company in each genre. Ticket prices are a fraction of Festival pricing, and availability is typically good for non-premiere dates. For visitors who want to experience live opera in a serious house without competing for Festival tickets, this is the answer.
Visiting
- Hours: Season runs approximately September through June; check salzburger-landestheater.at for schedule
- Cost: EUR 15-75 depending on production and seat category
- Duration: 2-3 hours per performance
- Getting there: Schwarzstrasse 22, right bank, walking distance from Mirabellplatz
- Book ahead: recommended for popular productions; week-of availability common for regular performances
- Combine with: Mozarteum, Salzburger Marionettentheater, Mirabell Palace