Salzburg is the place to be if you are into arts and want to widen your cultural horizon. Might it be music, art or talks. The hills around Salzburg are alive.
We had been invited to the opening premiere of Mozarts Zauberflöte at the Festspiele in Salzburg last Friday. It was a new production by the American director Lydia Steier. It had a spectacular costume design made out of more than one million Swarovski crystals. Ursula Kudrna and Jan Meier created all costumes around the theme of the circus. The Russian Sopranist Albina Shagimuratova was the queen of the night, wearing a handmade head jewel and the stage design from Katharina Schlipf was inspired by the Windsor McCay’s comic “little Nemo in Slumberland”. A modern interpretation with visual mixed media consisting of video art, graphics and special effects.
The newly created role of the narrator was beautifully played by Klaus Maria Brandauer.
The welcoming cocktail and after opera dinner were held on stage of the Felsenreitschule right next to the opera house decorated with an enormous crystal strand chandelier made of 30.000 crystals. The same stage was redesigned by the house of Swarovski for the midnight dinner, transformed into long dinner tables decorated with transparent fresh flowers and crystal designed blossoms by Crystals from Swarovski.
This installation underlined the strong partnership to the Salzburger Festspiele and the continuous supports in the creative field and the arts of the house of Swarovski.
The night came to an end with interesting conversations with guests of film, culture, arts, press and an endless number of pictures and impressions in my head. Walking home from the Felsenreitschule through the setting of this historical cultural loaded backdrop of Salzburg was a treat. We would like to thank Nadia Swarovski and Atelier Swarovski for this unforgettable night.
