News

26th January 2026 sees the premiere of Benjamin Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia in the Max Schlereth Saal at the Mozarteum University. We spoke to the production team, Lena Matterne and Theresa Staindl, to learn more about their views on female identity, self-determination and social conscience.

Florentine Klepper and Kai Röhrig discuss their upcoming production of the two one-act operas Der Kaiser von Atlantis and L'Hirondelle inattendue, which will premiere on 6 December in the Max Schlereth Saal.

Armela Madreiter, graduate of the Mozarteum University and dramaturge for the current music theatre production by Florentine Klepper and Kai Röhrig's opera class, Medusa / Giuditta, talks about fruitful collaboration, exciting female characters and crossing boundaries.

Julia Maria Eckes, Anastasia Fedorenko and Anna-Maria Husca are about to complete their Master's degree in Opera & Music Theatre at the Mozarteum University. In this interview, they give us an insight into their everyday life as students and let us in on the rehearsal process for the opera ‘Medusa / Giuditta’.

Mozart's opera Don Giovanni deals with the mythologically charged subject of the womaniser and libertine Don Juan. The focus is on an unscrupulous nobleman who lives excessively, seduces women and even murders – until he is finally brought to account by a higher power. The story is deeply rooted in moral issues and raises questions of guilt, abuse of power and punishment.

Data whispers: Making the invisible visible. Salzburg AG endeavours to promote artistic exploration of the topic of ‘energy’. The Salzburg AG Art Prize for students of the Mozarteum University Salzburg is intended to honour outstanding projects in the field of visual arts and make a lasting contribution to artistic reflection.

The performance of Vincenzo Bellini's opera I Capuleti e i Montecchi delivered a powerful reinterpretation of the masterpiece. Directed by Alexander von Pfeil, the production centred on the relentless feud between two rival clans and the profound despair of its victims. This staging transcended specific eras, placing the story in a universal, timeless setting that brought Bellini's dark vision of love and war to the stage with harrowing clarity.

Vincenzo Bellini's highly romantic bel canto opera I Capuleti e i Montecchi celebrates its premiere in the Max Schlereth Saal on 10 December under the direction of Alexander von Pfeil and musical direction of Gernot Sahler. A conversation with maestro Gernot Sahler about Bellini's inventiveness and the challenge of dealing with special stage situations.

As part of the Moz-Art-Zone, we link special events for school classes to the broad spectrum of university programmes and thus want to give children and young people access to music, art and culture. The focus is on young people meeting (young) artists who offer an insight into the artistic work of the various departments at the Mozarteum University. The Moz-Art-Zone offers a colourful mix of activities, from a visit to the opera with an artist talk and theatre laboratory to special educational concerts and hands-on workshops in the graphics workshop.

As a play, La Folle journée by the scandalous author Pierre Auguste Caron de Beaumarchais was banned in Vienna. However, Mozart and Da Ponte were able to suggest to Emperor Joseph II that the genre of opera would defuse the revolutionarily objectionable text and were thus commissioned to compose and write the libretto. The question of whether they did not in fact intensify the play in other ways is one that is posed anew in every production. With Le nozze di Figaro, Gernot Sahler and Alexander von Pfeil's opera class continued their Da Ponte cycle, which began with Così fan tutte in May 2023.

Mozart's „Le nozze di Figaro“ will celebrate its premiere on 18 June in the Max Schlereth Saal at Mozarteum University. The director of the production, Alexander von Pfeil, and set designer Thorben Schumüller talk about the creation process, inspirations and the opera's major themes: hierarchies, power relations, gender roles...

Sir John Falstaff is a natural phenomenon: his appearance is imposing, his demeanour commanding, his manner possessive. And most fascinating of all: the event does not care about rules, conventions or decorum, it simply exists for its own sake, in a sense for nothing but its belly.