26 July – 31 August

A new institution sprang into life: for the first time the Festival opened with a ceremonial address. This year’s address was delivered by the exiled Spanish writer and historian Salvador de Madariaga, who took the opportunity to speak “In Praise of Salzburg”. Another novelty was the new production of Mozart’s Lucio Silla, the first in an annual series devoted to Mozart’s juvenile operas. Once again, the initiator was the tireless Bernhard Paumgartner. Two new Strauss productions enlivened the programme: Ariadne auf Naxos, presented in the Kleines Festspielhaus by Karl Böhm and Günther Rennert, and Elektra, mounted in the Grosses Festspielhaus, with Karajan once again functioning as composer-producer. On the subject of Karajan, his appointment to the Festival’s board of directors was announced on 14 August. It is a position he would occupy for more than a quarter of a century.

1964: Paul Schöffler (Music Master) and Sena Jurinac (Composer) in Ariadne auf Naxos.

New production
William Shakespeare
The Merry Wives Of Windsor
D: Rudolf Steinboeck
Ds: Lois Egg
Cs: Erni Kniepert
Felsenreitschule

New production
Richard Strauss
Ariadne auf Naxos
C: Karl Böhm
D: Günther Rennert
Ds/Cs: Ita Maximovna
Kleines Festspielhaus

New production
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Lucio Silla
C: Bernhard Conz
D: Christoph Groszer
Ds/Cs: Ekkehard Grübler
Residence

New production
Giuseppe Verdi
Macbeth
C: Wolfgang Sawallisch
D: Oscar Fritz Schuh
Ds/Cs: Teo Otto
Felsenreitschule

New production
Richard Strauss
Elektra
C/D: Herbert von Karajan
Ds/Cs: Teo Otto
Grosses Festspielhaus

Revivals: Faust. 1st Part, Faust. 2nd Part, Jedermann, Così fan tutte, Die Zauberflöte, Le nozze di Figaro, Der Rosenkavalier

2 ballet performances, 10 orchestral concerts, 4 chamber concerts, 7 serenades, 5 matinées, 5 solo recitals, 6 lieder recitals, 3 concerts of sacred music, 1 church concert, 1 public reading

Details of the several years:

1960, 1961, 1962, 1963, 1964, 1965, 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989,