The Festspielhaus offers audiences a programme of opera, concerts and ballet the whole year round. This second-largest opera house in Europe seats 2500, has garnered a firm position on the European musical landscape. Leading artistes, orchestras and ballet companies look forward to appearing in Baden-Baden.

Festspielhaus Baden-Baden was officially opened by the World Orchestra for Peace conducted by Valery Gergiev on 18 April 1998. This second-largest opera house in Europe seats 2,500, and was planned and built in just three years by a team headed by Viennese architect Prof. Wilhelm Holzbauer. The objective was to design a venue with superb acoustics for opera and concerts, and which was ideal for radio and television productions.

This goal has been accomplished. With its acclaimed acoustics, the Festspielhaus now hosts first-rate musical performances by international stars. The unique atmosphere is underscored by the successful symbiosis of the magnificent historical railway station with the Festspielhaus’s modern architecture. Once a town where 19th-century princes and kings took the waters, in Baden-Baden music-lovers can nowadays immerse themselves in the world of music.

The Festspielhaus offers audiences a programme of opera, concerts and ballet the whole year round. One annual highlight is the Herbert von Karajan Whitsun Festival, comprising a scenic production and several star-studded concerts over about ten days. Says Artistic Director and CEO Andreas Mölich-Zebhauser: “The Festival is in explicit appreciation of Herbert von Karajan, one of the greatest conductors of the 20th century, whose work manifests the unconditional desire for supreme artistic perfection.”

Mariinsky Opera House refers to Baden-Baden as its “summer residence”. Moreover, internationally renowned dance and ballet ensembles appear several times a year in the regular series “Ballet International”. In fact the whole spectrum of ballet can be enjoyed in Baden-Baden – from the traditional Russian Kirov Ballet to avant-garde productions from Europe and America.

Andreas Mölich-Zebhauser has been the Artistic Director and CEO of Festspielhaus Baden-Baden since mid-1998. A successful arts manager, he maintains a deep respect for the roots of music and dance without losing sight of their future. Historical performance practice is just as at home at Festspielhaus Baden-Baden as traditional styles of direction – yet the Festspielhaus is equally self-assured in its handling of contemporary trends in composition, direction and choreography.

Scenic productions are organised as co-productions with well-known ensembles, festivals and opera houses. Following collaboration with the Salzburg Festival in 2000, in 2001 Festspielhaus Baden-Baden is working together with partners such as Festival d’Aix-en-Provence, the Vienna Volksoper and the St. Petersburg Mariinsky Theatre.

The opera house is privately run. The non-profit-making Kulturstiftung Festspielhaus Baden-Baden (Festspielhaus Baden-Baden Arts Foundation) was founded on 31 March 2000 by five dedicated music-lovers. In early July 2000 they acquired Baden-Baden Town Council’s stake in the operating company. The Foundation’s aim is to operate the Festspielhaus without public funding – making it the first major cultural institution in Europe to be run without public financial support.

Audiences enjoy Festspielhaus Baden-Baden as a venue of joy and celebration. Guests are looked after in the foyer and at the various hospitality outlets by the friendly, attentive service team, and one much-loved custom is the rose presented to every female guest upon departure. Audiences are attracted to Festspielhaus Baden-Baden by the likes of Placido Domingo, Anne-Sophie Mutter, and the Berlin or Vienna Philharmonic – for the great names of the world of music are now truly at home in Baden-Baden.

©Maxime-Ohayon.com

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