Großes Festspielhaus

The Großes Festspielhaus in Salzburg was designed by Clemens Holzmeister, with Herbert von Karajan contributing to the conception of its auditorium. Construction between 1956 and 1960 required the removal of 55,000 cubic metres of rock from the Mönchsberg to fit the theatre behind the former court stables. It opened on 26 July 1960 with Richard Strauss's Der Rosenkavalier conducted by Karajan. The nearly square auditorium seats 2,179 and serves the Salzburg Festival's opera and concert programmes. Rudolf Hoflehner created the steel fire curtain, while Richard Peduzzi renewed the concert-stage decoration in 1993. Parts of the earlier stables survive within the audience circulation and reception areas. Carved partly into the rock of the Mönchsberg, the Großes Festspielhaus opened in 1960 to a design by Clemens Holzmeister and became the principal stage of the Salzburg Festival. Its scale suits what the festival asks of it: full-evening opera, large orchestral programmes, and audiences drawn from far beyond the city. The old riding school and stables that preceded it on the site left their imprint on the whole festival district around the hall.