Author: Tobias Möller
ca. 3 minutes
The Easter Festival is a hugely important event in the history of the Berliner Philharmoniker. In 2026, a new chapter in this great tradition will be opened when, after thirteen successful years in Baden-Baden, the orchestra returns to Salzburg, where Herbert von Karajan founded the Festival in 1967. The programme is already available. At its heart lies Wagner’s Das Rheingold, the first instalment of a complete performance of the whole monumental cycle of Der Ring des Nibelungen under the orchestra’s chief conductor Kirill Petrenko.
Karajan’s idea of establishing an Easter Festival in the town of Salzburg, where he himself was born, was compelling. He had already conducted some outstanding performances of the symphonic repertory with the Berliner Philharmoniker – or the Berlin Philharmonic, as it was called at the time – but now he wanted to demonstrate the orchestra’s excellence in the field of opera. At the Easter Festival, he conducted a showcase opera production each year, complementing the programme with concerts featuring highlights from the world of orchestral music.
Karajan’s successors Claudio Abbado and Sir Simon Rattle continued this tradition until 2013, when it was felt that the time had come for a new beginning. The Festival needed to be set on a new course in terms of its content and concept, with the result that the orchestra relocated its Easter residency to Baden-Baden, where it was possible not only to present additional opera performances, but also to place greater emphasis on educational projects and on chamber music. When the orchestra returns to Salzburg after a break of thirteen years, it aims to forge a link between the tradition that it established in Salzburg and the experiences gained in Baden-Baden.
The decision to stage Wagner’s Das Rheingold in 2026 is a tribute to the notion of continuing orchestra's long Salzburg tradition. The new production will lay the foundations for a complete performance of the Ring in homage to the original Easter Festival, where the cycle was staged between 1967 and 1970. This was followed by a second Ring cycle under Rattle between 2007 and 2010. Just as was the case in Karajan’s day, any performance of Wagner’s monumental tetralogy is a challenge. No other work of music theatre places greater demands on its performers, nowhere else is the whole multilayered variety of opera as a medium as evident as it is here. Almost every human emotion and every human conflict is presented to us here in dramatic form. At the same time, Wagner astutely demonstrates how power, when it is placed in the wrong hands, can bring down an entire world, a theme that is of alarming topicality today.
The director is Kirill Serebrennikov, who for many years has himself been a victim of Putin’s authoritarian rule, giving him a unique perspective on the Ring. And all ears will be on Kirill Petrenko’s interpretation. The Ring has been a part of his life since the early years of his career, and he has already conducted productions at the Meiningen State Theatre, the Bayreuth Festival and the Bavarian State Opera.
There is one important difference that sets this new production apart from earlier stagings of the Ring in Salzburg. In 2028 the cycle will be interrupted by a production of Schoenberg’s Moses und Aron. In addition to our commitment to tradition, we are no less determined to direct our gaze to the future with a work that has never been seen at the Salzburg Easter Festival, but which is timeless in its modernity.
Kirill Petrenko conducts the “Symphony of a Thousand”
In addition to launching a new Ring, the programme in 2026 will feature a performance of Mahler’s epic “Symphony of a Thousand” under Kirill Petrenko. This work opens new dimensions, not just in terms of the vast forces for which it is scored, but also through its intent to express all of humankind’s spiritual and worldly aspirations. Another choral work that may be said to hold the whole world in its grasp is Haydn’s oratorio Die Schöpfung, which will be conducted by Daniel Harding. Hector Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, finally, explores the complexities of an individual’s psychological life, from love to murderous fantasies. It will be heard under the direction of Tugan Sokhiev, who is also conducting a performance of Brahms’s Double Concerto with two soloists drawn from the ranks of the Berliner Philharmoniker: Noah Bendix-Balgley (violin) and Bruno Delepelaire (cello). At a second concert, Sokhiev will be conducting Max Bruch’s First Violin Concerto with Janine Jansen, the holder of the Salzburg Easter Festival’s Herbert von Karajan Prize, as the soloist.
Music-lovers will find much more to discover with return of the Berliner Philharmoniker to Salzburg. Chamber music will play a significant role, with performances at numerous venues throughout the old town, while the orchestra’s education programme remains a focus. As always, its goal is that of inspiring people from the most disparate backgrounds with a love of classical music. In Salzburg, this will involve a very special project: The Be Phil Orchestra, when amateur musicians from Austria and its neighbours will come together to rehearse with members of the Berliner Philharmoniker, culminating a concert under the direction of Tugan Sokhiev. In short, this project symbolizes what the Salzburg Easter Festival is all about: a chance to meet others, to exchange ideas with them, and to share their love of music.
Tickets for the 2026 Salzburg Easter Festival will go on sale on the Festival’s website on 1 October 2025
Applications to join the Be Phil Orchestra of the Salzburg Easter Festival may be submitted from 6 May 2026.
