Salzburg Festival opens on eve of WWI centennial

Singer Johanna Wokalek as Charlotte Salomon performs on stage during a dress rehearsal of Marc-Andre Dalbavie's opera Charlotte Salomon in Salzburg on July 24. [Photo/AFP]

The Salzburg Festival, despite looming financial worries, got off to a thundering start on Sunday with an opera by the city's favorite son Mozart, kicking off a monthlong program of culture and glamor.

Don Giovanni, directed by the festival's theater director Sven-Eric Bechtolf, met with rousing applause for its sleek production set in 1920s pre-fascist Spain.

The festival's opening was attended by Austrian President Heinz Fischer, who recalled that Sunday marked the eve of the day 100 years ago, when Austria-Hungary signed its declaration of war against Serbia, setting off the train of events that led to World War I.

In honor of this anniversary, the festival's organizers put together a war-themed program this year, with operas and plays paying tribute to soldiers, frontline nurses and Holocaust victims.

Despite looming budget problems and well-publicized management disputes, the festival remains a highlight of the cultural calendar, with celebrities, politicians and opera-lovers jostling every year to see performances by some of the world's top artists.

Among the big names on the program for the 94th Salzburg Festival are singers Anna Netrebko, Cecilia Bartoli and Placido Domingo, and conductors Riccardo Muti, Daniel Barenboim and Nikolaus Harnon-court.

In total, 270 performances are planned until Aug 31, including five new opera productions.