Every year on January, 27, Salzburg celebrates the birthday of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the city’s most famous son. And this isn’t the only event: Mozartwoche Salzburg (or in English: Mozart Week Salzburg) is THE festival in Salzburg that is all about Mozart and his work. It may not sound interesting to everyone immediately, but since Mozart Week 2019 there has been a breath of fresh air blowing through the city – and a visit is also worth it for those who have always shied away from classical music! I spent a whole weekend in Salzburg, retracing Mozart’s footsteps – and it was everything but boring!
Pop-Up birthday serenade with Rolando Villazón: The Mariachis are on!
The main day of Mozart’s week in Salzburg, which usually lasts one week and a half, is the 27th of January – Mozart’s birthday. In the Mozart’s Birthplace there is free admission for birthday children all day long and in many other places birthday celebrations are held. This year Rolando Villazón, the Mexican tenor and now also director, is now the artistic manager of Mozart Week – and he brings almost revolutionary ideas to Mozart Week 2019! There’s no other way to say it, because on January, 27, I suddenly found myself in a spontaneous open-air concert in the streets of Salzburg’s old town: together with the Mariachis Negros, master Rolando Villazón himself sang Mexican serenatas in honour of Mozart. Unusual. But amazing. And pure goose bumps were guaranteed.
Mozart Week Salzburg: Mozart’s Amazing Shadows
In addition to the classical concerts, there are also numerous events this year that address the theme of Mozart in Salzburg in a very special way – from poetry slams to ballet galas across all dance genres from classical ballet to breakdancing. I couldn’t watch everything, the time was much too short! There are daily events during the Mozartwoche Salzburg: morning, noon, evening. Even in the Oval, a location within the largest shopping centre of the region, there is a daily event. Sounds bizarre, the event there is somehow, too, because Mozart’s Amazing Shadows tells Mozart’s life from the perspective of a mouse in the form of a shadow theatre. But it’s also something for children – and very entertaining for the whole family.
Concerts in the Stiftung Mozarteum Salzburg
The Mozart Week Salzburg is organized annually by the Mozarteum Foundation (Stiftung Mozarteum), which is dedicated to the preservation of Mozart’s work and its traces in Salzburg. Many concerts therefore also take place at the Mozarteum Foundation itself. And to experience a concert in the golden Great Hall is really impressive – even if you lower the average age of the audience at the matinee events dramatically, even as a middle-aged young person.
Prices & Tickets Mozart Week Salzburg 2020
Tickets for the events of the Mozart Week Salzburg are not really cheap. But if you book in time, you can get one of the back seats, which are more affordable. Students up to 26 years get an additional discount. And the events, which are aimed at a younger audience, are also more economical, so that everyone should be able to participate in some events during Mozart Week. (The Mariachi concert with Rolando Villazón is even free!) Mozart Week 2019 lasts until Sunday, February 3 – if you can’t make it anymore, you should memorize Mozart Week 2020: I have already taken a look at the programme – the Mariachis will be back next year and the whole festival will sound very innovative and young as this year!
Official schedule of Mozart Week
TSG Salzburg GmbH kindly invited me to Salzburg for Mozart Week 2019.
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