Festival starts Friday

Styriarte reports a “rush like before”

This year's edition of Styriarte starts on June 21 and the Styrian festival is focusing entirely on "The Power of Music". And the program items are very popular: many performances are already as good as sold out - additional performances are now even being planned for some.

"In terms of visitor numbers, we are back at the same level as 2019 and before," says Styriarte director Mathis Huber happily just a few days before the start of this year's festival edition. The audience is therefore still interested in the program of the festival once founded by Nikolaus Harnoncourt. However, it has also changed a lot since the coronavirus era: In the pandemic years, they started to start performances earlier and generally shorten them: "Both are well received by audiences, as recent surveys show," explains Huber.

There is an additional date for ABBA
This is also reflected in advance ticket sales: many of this year's projects are already as good as sold out, reports Huber - including the "Symphonic Tribute to ABBA", for which Huber can report positive news: "The musicians have decided that we can open the dress rehearsal to the public. We are selling the tickets at half price and the full proceeds from this additional performance will go to Caritas."

So while there are only remaining tickets or a waiting list for many events, tickets are still available for others. According to Huber, these are mainly new formats such as the "Attems Saga" or the "Volxmusik spezi", which the public cannot yet really imagine. But tickets are also still available for the Monteverdi opera "L'Orfeo", which includes live visuals by a Ukrainian sand artist. 

Harnoncourt Park is inaugurated
The festival starts on June 21 with the Handel oratorio "Das Alexander-Fest oder: Die Macht der Musik" - a work with which the Styriarte has a special connection: "Nikolaus Harnoncourt performed it once before in 2003, inaugurating the Helmut-List-Halle as a concert location," says Huber. The day before the start of the festival, a newly created small park in Smart City, the district bordering the List Hall, will be named after Nikolaus Harnoncourt: "A special day for us," says Huber.

All information about the festival and ticket availability can be found here.