The director of the Salzburg Festival Markus Hinterhäuser on money from Russia, questionable sponsors and the question of whether Teodor Currentzis will conduct the opening premiere.
Interviewed by
Egbert Tholl
Markus Hinterhäuser, Artistic Director of the Salzburg Festival, has had to go to Ukraine since the outbreak of war ask some uncomfortable questions. It’s about sponsorship contracts that directly and indirectly affect the festival: the conductor Teodor Currentzis, its choir and orchestra MusicaAeterna – influential artists of the past few years and partly also of the coming edition – are supported by the Russian VTB Bank, which is on the list of sanctioned companies. The VAC Foundation of the oligarch Leonid Michelson directly supported the festival in projects with Currentzis, and there is also a Russian circle of friends that is now being closely monitored. Author Lukas Bärfuss and director Yana Ross, who are showing a new version of Schnitzler’s “Reigen” in Salzburg this summer, recently denounced the sponsor Solway Group, which apparently operates a mine in Guatemala under questionable conditions.