July 23 – August 31

The year begins with turbulence: after the change of government in Austria and the participation of the FPÖ in the coalition in Vienna, Gerard Mortier announces his premature departure, only to take it back four weeks later. The politicians cut the Festival’s budget by 2% and charge Mortier with leaving a balanced budget for the new Artistic Director Ruzicka. Mortier is only able to achieve this by eliminating important but costly projects, for example the cancellation of the new production of Helmut Lachenmann’s Das Mädchen mit den Schwefelhölzern planned for 2001. Still, the program announces seven opera premieres for 2000 – more than ever; three of them, however, are productions that had already been shown elsewhere: Tristan und Isolde was premiered at the Easter Festival in 1999, Idomeneo was performed in June at the Festspielhaus in Baden-Baden, and La Belle Hélène in July in Aix-en-Provence. The world premiere of Kaija Saariaho’s L’amour de loin, conducted by Kent Nagano and staged by Peter Sellars, receives international attention; Hans Neuenfels’s production of Così fan tutte and Claus Guth’s Iphigénie en Tauride are also among the highlights of the Festival summer. The drama department favors a new, younger generation of directors: Martin Kušej makes his Salzburg debut with Hamlet, Thomas Ostermeier stages Jon Fosse’s Der Name [The Name], thereby starting a regular boom of plays by the Norwegian author performed by German-language theater companies.

2000: World premiere of Kaija Saariaho's L'amour de loin with Dawn Upshaw (Clémence), Dagmar Pecková (Le Pèlerin) and Dwayne Croft (Jauvé Rudel), from left to right.

Coproduction with the Volksbühne am Rosa-Luxemburg-Platz Berlin
Tennessee Williams
A Streetcar Named Desire
Stage director: Frank Castorf
Sets and costumes: Bert Neumann
Landestheater

Coproduction with the Schauspiel Staatstheater Stuttgart
William Shakespeare
Hamlet
Stage director: Martin Kušej
Stage sets: Martin Zehetgruber
Costumes: Bettina Walter
Perner-Insel Hallein

Coproduction with the Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz Berlin
Jon Fosse
Der Name
Stage director: Thomas Ostermeier
Stage sets: Rufus Didwiszus
Costumes: Almut Eppinger
Stadtkino

Coproduction with Victoria & Les Ballets C. de la B., Gent
Alain Platel and Arne Sierens
Jedermann ist ein Indianer
Stage director: Alain Platel and Arne Sierens
Stage sets: Karina Lambert
Costumes: Lieve Pynoo
Stadtkino

Dichter zu Gast
Christoph Ransmayr

New production
Hector Berlioz
Les Troyens
Conductor: Sylvain Cambreling
Stage director, sets and costumes: Herbert Wernicke
Großes Festspielhaus

New production
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Così fan tutte
Conductor: Lothar Zagrosek
Stage director: Hans Neuenfels
Sets and costumes: Reinhard von der Thannen
Kleines Festspielhaus

Coproduction with the Nuremberg Opera
Christoph Willibald Gluck
Iphigénie en Tauride
Conductor: Ivor Bolton
Stage director: Claus Guth
Sets and costumes: Christian Schmidt
Residenzhof

Coproduction with the Easter Festival Salzburg and Maggio Musicale Fiorentino
Richard Wagner
Tristan und Isolde
Conductor: Lorin Maazel
Stage director: Klaus Michael Grüber
Stage sets: Eduardo Arroyo
Costumes: Moidele Bickel
Großes Festspielhaus

World premiere
Coproduction with the Théâtre du Châtelet Paris and The Santa Fe Opera
Kaija Saariaho
L’amour de loin
Conductor: Kent Nagano
Stage director: Peter Sellars
Stage sets: George Tsypin
Costumes: Martin Pakledinaz
Felsenreitschule

Coproduction with the Festival Aix-en-Provence
Jacques Offenbach
La Belle Hélène
Conductor: Stéphane Petitjean
Stage director, sets and costumes: Herbert Wernicke
Perner-Insel Hallein

Coproduction with the Festival Hall Baden-Baden
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Idomeneo
Conductor: Michael Gielen
Stage directors: Ursel und Karl-Ernst Herrmann
Sets and costumes: Karl-Ernst Herrmann
Kleines Festspielhaus

Revivals: Jedermann, Don Giovanni

Concert performances: Cherubini's Médée, Nielsen's Saul und David, Rimsky-Korsakow's Legende von der unsichtbaren Stadt Kitesch, Tschaikowsky's Pique Dame

11 Concerts Wiener Philharmoniker, 10 Concerts Guest Orchestra, 10 Matinees, 1 Church Concert, Cycle „Haydn & Britten“, Cycle Johannes Brahms, 4 Lied Recitals, 9 Solo Recitals, 2 Chamber Concerts, Portrait Wolfgang Rihm, Three Composers(Peter Eötvös, Friedrich Cerha, Pierre Boulez), Next Generation (Gerd Kühr)

Festredner Jakob Kellenberger: "Friede ist das Ergebnis harter Arbeit"

Details of the several years:

1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001,