The 2008 Summer Festival Experience

The 2008 Summer Festival took place in July in the midst of the cultural throng that is Salzburg during its International Festspiele.

Having been a faculty member at two SGS seminars, the ‘festivals’ are the perfect way to experience the ethos and sheer brilliance of the Schloss Leopoldskron with family and friends. They also provide an excellent opportunity for anyone who has not had the SGS experience, to meet and make permanent friends with an impressive list of guests from across the world. Like the Seminars, most if not all participants, leave SGS festivals with a feeling of emotional warmth and immense fulfilment of having taken part in an unforgettable experience.

My wife Catriona & I were privileged to be asked back to host the Festival at the Schloss. In the summer of 2007 we had been impressed by the exemplary performance of ex-Salzburg Seminar President Herb Gleason and his wife Nancy hosting the 60th anniversary Summer Festival. They are a hard act to follow. We were lucky, however, to have had some practice when we hosted the first Thanksgiving Festival last November.

The sheer privilege of being invited to ‘host’ was tripled as the 2008 Summer Festival was to be the last for the wonderfully charismatic Kathleen Schendl, who has organised them since their inception. It was also to be the final event of a year in residence by SGS President, Stephen Salyer and his wife Susan Moeller before they moved back to continue their roles from their home in the USA.

SGS Festivals have a theme, but unlike the more purposefully themed seminars, they do not require an output, apart from sheer enjoyment. When Catriona and I were invited by Stephen to host this year’s Summer Festival we agreed that an obvious theme would be one linked to its timing alongside one of the world’s most important artistic events - the Salzburger Festspiele.

The week included two official visits to Festspiele performances. The first to a well reviewed production of Die Zauberflöte (The Magic Flute) conducted by Riccardo Muti and the second, a concert which included a rare performance of Bartok’s Miraculous Mandarin by the Cleveland Orchestra brilliantly conducted by Franz Welser-Möst. Many of the guests also booked up other concerts to attend. We, for instance, went with our newly found friends from Japan to a Lieder recital provided by the tenor Ian Bostridge and the pianist Mitsuko Uchida.

In line with its cultural theme, three talks were timetabled. My contribution was an illustrated talk on ‘classical’ music and world order’. Catriona provided an introduction to The Magic Flute and the erudite Georg Steinitz gave us the ‘inside story’ from his time as the assistant producer of the film The Sound of Music, filmed at the Schloss. You may not be familiar with the term ‘informance’ but we were certainly treated to one, by brothers Günter and Reinhold Wagnleitner in the Great Hall of the Schloss. Whilst Reinhold, a professor at the University of Salzburg, presented the ‘in’formation with a theme of Jazz – the classical music of globalisation, Günter illustrated with a per‘formance’ at the piano. By the way – if you are interested in such things you should read Reinhold’s book ‘Mozart meets Satchmo’.

All festivals are the perfect combination between the pleasure of their ‘theme’ and the enjoyment of the stunning environment that surrounds Salzburg. In August, as well as the very well ‘organised’ trips to Wolfgangsee and the world’s oldest cable car ride up to the Berghotel Predigtstuhl in Bavaria, we had time to simply do our own thing. We don’t have any cable cars where we come from in Cornwall, UK. So we took the opportunity to travel on the dramatic Untersbergbahn to get to the top of the Untersberg which overlooks the Schloss from the other side of its beautiful lake. Catriona, who doesn’t enjoy heights, was very brave and we had lunch at a very nice restaurant at the top with Elizabeth, the wife of deputy director Edward Mortimer. For the next four days unfortunately Catriona could not find her camera. We eventually deduced that she had left it on a rock at the top of the Untersberg. We were amazed that it had been retrieved by a kind mountain trekker and Edward very kindly collected it from the cable car station.

Any events at the Schloss, and especially Festivals, should not be mentioned without reference to the exceptional cuisine and service from the staff. The Venetian Room with its ornate panelling and the marble hall are fully utilised as venues for the consistantly excellent meals.

As with the seminars, the last evening always involves a formal photograph and a concert (organised through links with the Mozarteum Conservatoire) followed by a farewell dinner. The conclusion of the Summer Festival is no exception and formalities began with a recital provided by the Japanese pianist Akiko Okamoto. Her programme concluded with a very special performance of a piece by the Argentinian composer Alberto Ginestera. The farwell dinner was a poignant occasion as, not only was it the last formal event for passing on contact details, it was also the time to formally say, on behalf of all Festival participants past and present, goodbye to the lovely Kathleen. Kathleen, supported by Astrid Koblmüller has been responsible for all the happy memories etched on the brains of all festival participants.

The dinner finished with a rare appearance of head chef Kiesling to accept the thanks of all for such excellent food, Simon for the well chosen wine and Veronica and Reinhold for being such conscientious and friendly waiting staff.

With the formalities over, it was time to let our hair down. With our ‘long-time back’ backgrounds in professional opera Catriona and I had a last few surprises for Kathleen. We were more than ably assisted in our après dinner sing-song by Edward Mortimer. Very appropriately Edward had rewritten the words to ‘I’ll Take You Home Again Kathleen’ and the Papageno/Papagena duet from ‘The Magic Flute’. These never to be repeated versions, with great apologies to the composers (especially Mozart) and writers were ‘performed(?)’, with no rehearsal, by Edward and myself accompanied on the Bösendorfer by Catriona. After talented performances from various Festival participants we all retired to our beds with a week of great memories behind us.

Thanks Kathleen, Astrid, Stephen, Edward and all of the staff at the SGS for yet another superb experience. Welcome to Ian Brown who has taken over the management of future Festivals.

The next is the Thanksgiving Festival and the Christmas Festival – if you have the opportunity they are fully recommended.

Tim German