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Vienna is a year-round destination, but perhaps it's even more appealing in the summer, when parks, gardens, and squares become venues for musical performances and film series, and the city offers a range of programs and activities of interest to children. Throughout the 2006, the widest imaginable variety of musical programs are refracted through a particularly Mozartean lensfrom Mozart and the Turks (the influence of Turkish music on Mozart's style) to Mozart Sakral (performances of the composer's religious music in city churches) to new music inspired by Mozart (the premiere of a piano concerto by jazz musician Chick Corea).
Before traveling, plan ahead at www.vienna.at, which provides access to online hotel bookings, event listings, city guides, and itineraries. In Vienna, the tourist information office (43-1/158-999), located behind the State Opera at the Albertinaplatz, provides maps, cultural and activity brochures, tour information and tickets, currency exchange, and more. For a comprehensive source of stage productions, concerts, and programs that includes useful links, see www.wienmozart2006.at
Highlights
At the MoviesJuly 1-Sept. 3
The annual Film Festival Rathausplatz, outdoors on City Hall Square, focuses on Peter Sellars's contemporary Da Ponte cycle (Don Giovanni, The Marriage of Figaro, Così Fan Tutte). The Vienna Symphony Orchestra inaugurates the festival; a companion of concerts includes jazz programs. Free admission. (www.wien-event.at).
KlangBogen Festival Wien
July 20-August 20
KlangBogen, a prestigious festival of stage works, orchestral and chamber music, presents a trilogy of interpretations on the Don Juan legend, including director Keith Warner's staging of the Mozart opera with Gerald Finley as Don Giovanni (through August 18); Flammen, a surreal, psychoanalytic take on the subject written in 1932 by composer Erwin Schulhoff (August 7 through 17); Bertrand de Billy conducts both productions at the Theater an der Wien. The Theater an der Wien in a coproduction with Neue Oper Wien presents the world premiere of Erik Højsgaard's Don Juan kommt aus dem Krieg ("Don Juan Comes Home from the War") at the Semper-Depot (July 24 through August 3); (www.klangbogen.at).
Choir Boys
Through October
The celebrated Vienna Boys' Choir performs weekly concerts titled "Mozart and More" on Fridays from May through October (except in July and August) at Vienna's Musikverein. (43-1/505-1363; www.wsk.at).
Held by Strings
Through October 29
Marionette puppets bring The Magic Flute, one of Mozart's most popular operas, to life every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday throughout 2006 at the Schönbrunn Palace Marionette Theatre (43-1/817-3247; www.marionettentheater.at). The spendid Baroque palace, a residence of the Hapsburg dynasty, is itself a day's visit, no less because Mozart performed as a child before the Empress Marie Theresia and the court in 1762.
Just Another Kid
Through September 3
An exhibition about the child prodigy is scaled for children ages 6 to 12 and produced at ZOOM Kindermuseum in the MuseumsQuartier. The show "Wolfgang Amadé-A Perfectly Normal Wunderkind" contrasts growing up in the 18th with the 21st, Mozart's love of games, plus music written by the young composer (43/524-7908; www.wienmozart2006.at).
On the Couch
Through October 29
The year 2006 also marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of Sigmund Freud, who founded psychoanalysis while living in Vienna. In tribute, the city presents the exhibition "The Couch: Thinking in Repose" at the Sigmund Freud Museumthe site of his former apartmenton Berggasse (43-1/319-1596; www.freud-museum.at).
Salzburg Festival
Although productions of Mozart's complete stage works takes take the spotlight at the Salzburg Festival (43-662/804-5500; www.salzburgfestival.at) in July and August, there are compelling programs throughout the year. In June, the festival presents the aptly named Wege zu Mozart ("Pathways to Mozart"), June 2-5, a series of concerts that considers the influence of the music of J.S. Bach, the Bach sons, and George Frederic Handel upon the Salzburg composer. Programs feature Baroque orchestral and keyboard works as well as Mozart's arrangements of Handel's music, including the Messiah.
Students and young adults ages 9 to 27 can enroll in the Jugendprogramm or Youth Programme of the Salzburg Festival, and obtain reduced-price tickets for performances of theater, opera, and concerts, plus workshops and tours. For details and booking about the Jugendprogramm or Youth Programme of the Salzburg Festival: 43-662/804-5500; www.jungefreunde.at.
Tickets may be scarce for performances at this year's festival, but through a collaborative and generous effort among Siemens Corporation, the city of Salzburg, and ORF Salzburg, the Austrian radio and television company, visitors can see for free recent Salzburg Festival opera productions as well as this summer's Mozart stagings on a large screen at the Kapitelplatz in the city's Old Town. The nightly screenings run from July 22 through August 15 and include works by Strauss and Verdi, including the celebrated 2005 production of La Traviata, with soprano Anna Netrebko and tenor Rolando Villazón. For a schedule, see www.salzburgfestival.at.
Weekend Music
Two of Salzburg's leading institutions, the Mozarteum Orchestra and the Salzburg Chamber Soloists, are presenting programs entitled "Best of Mozart" on most weekends through November in the Main Concert Hall of the Mozarteum, one of the city's most beautiful; see www.salzburg.info for details.
For online booking of hotels, a restaurant guide, and a schedule of events, concerts, with links, see www.salzburg.info or call 43-662/840-310.
What to Listen to
Mozart 250-A Celebration. A three-CD survey of landmark performances fron the Sony Classical label that features conductors Sir Colin Davis and James Levine, pianist Rudolf Serkin, and singers Margaret Price and Thomas Quasthoff. (Sony Classical 82876-75944-2/2; www.sonybmgmasterworks.com).
ENGLAND- LONDON
BBC Proms at the Royal Albert Hall (July 14-September 9; 44-20/7589-8212; www.bbc.co.uk/proms). Top Mozart performers, such as the Camerata Salzburg, and conductor Valery Gergiev leading the Kirov Symphony Orchestra in a concert performance of Shostakovich's seering opera Lady Macbeth of the Mtsensk, and appearances by the Minnesota Orchestra, Pittsburgh Symphony, and Orchestra of St. Luke's, are among the highlights of the popular London concert series, which combines world-class artistry with standing-room accommodations accessible to all.
GERMANY- BADEN-BADEN
Festspiel Baden-Baden (ongoing; 49-7221/301-3101; www.festspielhaus.de). A year-round venue for opera, concert, and dance presents the return of the critically acclaimed production of Wagner's Ring cycle by the Kirov Opera, with set designs by George Tsypin and conducted by Valery Gergiev, July 13-18, plus a concert performance of Tristan and Isolde, on July 19.
GERMANY- MUNICH
Munich Opera Festival (June 24-July 31; 49-89/218-501; www.muenchner-opern-festspiele.de). Thirty opera productions in 35 days document the genre from the 17th centuryMonteverdi's The Return of Ulysses-to the present dayMedusa, by Arnaldo de Felice. The ambitious schedule honors the final season of Peter Jonas, the Munich Opera's general director, and audiences are the beneficiaries, with stagings by leading directors and many of today's foremost singers.
ITALY- STRESA
Settimane Musicali di Stresa e del Lago Maggiore Festival Internazionale (August 4-September 9). Even among beautiful European settings, those of this festival in Stresa and on islands along Lake Maggiore make a particularly idyllic claim. Conductor Gianandrea Noseda oversees programs that range from Bach's Suites for Cello solo performed by Pieter Wispelwey to a lute recital by Rolf Lislevand in the San Vittore Church on the Isola dei Pescatori to a semi-staged production of Mozart's The Magic Flute, led by Noseda.
ITALY- ISCHIA
Walton Festival (April 1-June 25; 39-081/986-220; www.lamortella.it) La Mortella, an extraordinary private garden on the island of Ischia, only a 45-minute hydrofoil ride away from Naples, hosts a series of weekend concerts by visiting young musicians in performances ranging from Mozart to Ginastera. The chamber music programs honor British composer Sir William Walton, who lived at La Mortella with his wife, Susana, the creative force behind the garden paradise. This September the William Walton Trust completes the building of a Greek-style amphitheater that will accommodate programs by youth orchestras next summer.
SPAIN- PERALADA
Festival Castell de Peralada (July 14-August 19; 34-93503-8646; www.festivalperalada.com). A festival of great scope takes place in a tiny, Catalonian town, where performances are given in an open-air theater and a 17th-century church. Highlights: a staging of the zarzuela Luisa Fernandez, with Carlos Álvarez and Mariola Cantarero in featured roles; a recital by the beloved Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballé; and the premiere of a semi-staged production by William Christie and Les Arts Florissants of Mozart's opera Idomeneo.
PLAN AHEAD: MOZART IN NEW YORK
Mostly Mozart Festival (July 28-August 26; 212/721-6500; www.lincolncenter.org). A must for all music lovers, the festival devoted to Mozart celebrates its 40th anniversary as the world observes the composer's 250th birthday. Strains of the Ottoman Empire waft over this year's program, with Peter Sellars directing Mozart's unfinished opera, Zaide, about the clash between European slaves and Turkish sultans. Late-night concerts by the period-instrument ensemble Concerto Köln and Sarband, a world music group, explore the influence of the seraglio on 18th-century European music. Closing nights find music director Louis Langrée leading the festival orchestra in Mozart's last three symphonies, including Jupiter.
PLUS, DON'T MISS THESE U.S. FESTIVALS THIS MONTH
Seattle, Washington
Made in America Festival: Part 2 (May 6-20; 206/215-4747; www.seattlesymphony.org). This celebration by the Seattle Symphony features world premieres by living composers, including Phillip Glass's Concerto Fantasy for Two Timpanists, Bright Sheng's Red Silk Dance, and John Harbison's arrangement Rubies after the great jazz pianist Thelonious Monk's Ruby My Dear.
St. Louis, Missouri
Opera Theatre of Saint Louis (May 20-June 25; 314/961-0644; www.opera-stl.org). A welcoming, intimate setting and opera sung in English make St. Louis a favorite musical destination. This season features James Lord's staging of Street Scene, Kurt Weill's portrait of Manhattan immigrant life on a hot summer night, based on the drama by Elmer Rice, and the American premiere of British composer Michael Berkeley's Jane Eyre, directed by Colin Graham.
Charleston, South Carolina
Spoleto Festival USA (May 25-June 11; 843/579-3100; www.spoletousa.org). Star-crossed lovers and mystically inspired dancers cross paths at Spoleto, where the Cornwall-based Kneehigh Theatre unveils the U.S. premiere of its wildly popular adaptation of Tristan & Yseult, an ancient Cornish folktale, and Nrityagram's classical Indian dancers, who live and study in a utopian hamlet outside of Bangalore, debut a new work, Sacred Space.
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