Festivals in Austria 2011

Austria is a culturally rich country, the cultural season in Austria are therefore very lively and vibrant, with numerous cultural events and festivals taking place. Here’s a list of some of the most important festivals taking place in different parts of Austria;

Schubertiade Schwarzenberg/Hohenems (May 6 - Oct 9 2011)

For over 25 years the Schubertiade Festival has been mastering the seemingly impossible: To maintain intimacy, yet becomes the most important Schubert festival in the world. A festival for Franz Schubert, which would accord him his due place alongside Mozart and Beethoven - this was the idea behind the first Schubertiade, which was founded by Hermann Prey in 1976 in the small town of Hohenems, situated in the most Western part of Austria. Today, with about 70 events and over 30,000 visitors per year, the Schubertiade is the most significant and most distinguished Schubert festival in the world.

Steirischer Herbst (23rd September - 16th October 2011)

Probably one of the most avantgard festivals in Austria. The "Steirischer Herbst" offers great international theatre performances, readings, screenings and parties.  Every year the Steirischer Herbst festival for contemporary art in the Styrian capital of Graz guarantees the opportunity for unexpected perspectives in unusual performance venues, such as abandoned factory buildings, swimming pools and underground mine tunnels. The festival presents a diverse programme of drama, film, architecture, music, literature and visual art, and one of its hallmarks is the incorporation and networking of both international and regional artists. Over the years, the close proximity of Graz to Slovenia, Croatia and the Central and Eastern European regions has enabled this to flourish.

Carinthian Summer (10th July - 20th August 2011)

A highly attractive combination of culture and nature is offered by the Carintischer Sommer music festival in the area surrounding Carinthia's Ossiach Lake each year. The Carinthian Summer music festival is ranked among the most important in Austria today. It began in 1969 on the shores of Lake Ossiach and is renowned for the classical and new musical talent that it showcases. Highlights for 2011 include appearances by Rudolf Buchbinder, Vladimir Fedosejey, Evelyn Glennie, Magdalena Kozena, Sabine Meyer and Heinrich Schiff.

ImPuls Tanz Festival (14th July - 14th August 2011)

Thousands of professional dancers, choreographers, teachers and students from around the world transform Vienna into the global dance capital for five weeks every year. Professional dancers and choreographers meet here to present their latest productions, while dance instructors pass on their knowledge in workshops, above all communicating the joy of dance. This mixture of contemporary dance and trend-oriented productions enthralls thousands of dance enthusiasts that flock to Vienna every year. An added attraction is the festival's main event venue: the halls of the city's lively MuseumsQuartier.

Bregenz Festival (20th July - 21st August 2011)

Bregenz is different. An opera festival with two stages: a traditional opera house, home to less-known operas, and an open-air lakeside stage, where productions are held in the most spectacular fashion. It must have been the wonderful location of the city by the lake and the beautiful environment that made a couple of clever minds set up a stage on two barges in 1946, calling the Bregenzer Festspiele to life. The lake and the surrounding countryside were thus to be a central part of all productions from the start. 60 years later the Bregenzer Festspiele is an integrated part of Austrian culture, and the lakeside stage is the largest of its kind.

La Strada Street Theatre Festival (29th July - 6th August 2011)

Pedestrians dancing furiously, city hikers on urban discovery tours, energy-laden popular productions, phenomenal theatre of masks beyond all physical limits, puppet shows that make us marvel, thrilling productions for kids, and unusual encounters in streetcars and on trains. The spectacular events of La Strada's early years gave way to stories about Graz and its inhabitants. In 2010 La Strada Street Theatre Festival focused on the different faces of the city and its people, their awareness of life and vital energy.

Salzburg Festival (27th July - 30th August 2011)

During the annual Salzburg Festival the entire city becomes a stage.  The Salzburger Festival first glimpsed the light of day on 22 August 1920, when “Everyman” was staged and performed on Cathedral Square under the direction of Max Reinhardt. A series of exhibitions known as “The Great World Theater” traces and documents the ups and downs of the festival’s history, including a big multi-media show in the Salzburg Museum, among other venues.

Musikfestival Grafenegg (19th August - 7th September 2011)

A Classical Music Festival in a romantic setting. Grafenegg offers the historical backdrop for musical masterpieces from past centuries. Since 2007, Grafenegg has presented a top-class programme of concerts as part of the Music Summer and Music Festival. Under the artistic direction of Rudolf Buchbinder, the world's most renowned orchestras, conductors and soloists come to perform on the Wolkenturm open-air stage and in the Auditorium concert hall.

Jazzfestival Saalfelden (25th August - 28th August 2011)

The mountain range of the Steinernes Meer, lush green meadows and a lake form the picturesque backdrop of Europe's most important festival of contemporary jazz. The Jazzfestival Saalfelden with its top-class instrumentation is regarded as one of the most significant jazz festivals in Central Europe. What started out as a musical get together in a horse stable in 1979 has become an established international event.

Wiener Festwochen (13th May - 19th June 2011)

This festival is a firmly-established high-point of the Vienna cultural calender, offering exciting theatre productions as well as a great number of orchestra concerts, recitals and chamber music performances. The Wiener Festwochen 2011 is set to be even more successful than the 2010 event, which saw an incredible attendance of 201.242 guests. Vienna on the map The Wiener Festwochen was established in 1951. Emerging as a "demonstration of Austria's will to survive", it was to prove to the world that a city marked by the ravages of war and its aftermath was able to engage in cultural activities.

Source: http://www.austria.info
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