2008 Salzburg Festival

The Salzburg Festival will pursue the phrase "for love is as strong as death" from the Song of Solomon in its operas, concerts and theater performances in 2008.

Of the seven opera premieres, the Festival will begin with Don Giovanni, conducted by Bertrand de Billy in a production by Claus Guth at the House for Mozart. Othello,  Verdi's last dramatic opera, and a repeat performance of the Magic Flute from the 2006 Mozart Year will be conducted by Riccardo Muti. Anna Netrebko and Rolando Villazón will perform in Charles Gounod's Roméo et Juliette. The opera stage will also feature: Rusalka by Antonin Dvoráks at the House for Mozart, Béla Bartók's Bluebeard's Castle at the Large Festival Hall and the debut of Irmingard or the Power of Fate by the Austrian brass band, Mnozil Brass and Bernd Jeschek at the republic.

The concert program will focus on the Continent Sciarrino concert series and Schubert Scenes, particularly accommodating this year's motto. The Continents series will focus on the works of the Sicilian composer, Salvatore Sciarrino.

Everyman on Cathedral Square will be performed with virtually the same cast as last year: Sophie von Kessel will be Peter Simonischek's new paramour. The Salzburg Festival commissioned Dimitré Dinev to adapt Dostoevsky's Crime and Punishment, which will be one of the four new productions on this year's theater program: the Sad Face / Happy Face trilogy by the Begian Needcompany is another commissioned work, Friedrich Friedrich Schiller's The Robbers will be performed on Perner Island, followed by the German premiere of Simon Stephen's Harper Regan.

For the entire opera, concert and theater program, visit www.salzburgfestival.com/.