Oper Burg Gars 2023
Oper Burg Gars 2023
For more than 30 years, Gars Castle has served as a unique venue for top-class opera productions, which take place on the open-air stage every year in July and August. In the summer of 2023, Gars Castle will be transformed into the famous Egyptian temple on the Nile in the time of the pharaohs. Giuseppe Verdi's "Aida" combines in a breathtaking way the sensitive drama about four individual fates in times of war with opera culture in its most monumental form.
Occidental and oriental longings for the exotic meet in this work as well as musically magnificent ceremonials and majestic choral scenes with intimate moments full of great emotional conflicts.
At the heart of the opera, commissioned by the Egyptian Viceroy Ismael Pasha for the ceremonial opening of the Suez Canal, is the tragic love of the Ethiopian princess Aida and the Egyptian general Radamès - a bond made impossible by the war between their two peoples. With his highly touching closing speech for the utopian power of love, Verdi sets a special exclamation mark whose symbolism is timeless.
In the 210th year of the birth of the exceptional composer, Artistic Director Dr. Johannes Wildner and his team "Aida" in the opera Burg Gars: Pure music drama directed by Philipp Harnoncourt from July 15, 2023 in the opera house of the Waldviertel!
About the Oper Burg Gars
At the end of the 1980s, and in 1990 the first major opera production was realized in Burg Gars. From then on, under the direction of the director and manager Karel Drgáč, the opera was performed every summer under the name “Opern-Air” in Gars Castle.
In 2012 there was a reorganization; Burg Gars GmbH, meanwhile wholly owned by the market town of Gars am Kamp, was founded as the sponsoring company and took over responsibility for what was going on in the castle.
In 2013, Dr. Johannes Wildner, one of the leading Austrian conductors, is the artistic director of the festival. The former director of the Vienna Volksoper, Rudolf Berger, completed the new tour as managing director. The new directorship started in Gars 2014 with “Der Freischütz” by Carl Maria von Weber, followed by “Don Carlo” in 2015, “Otello” in 2016, “Die Zauberflöte” in 2017, “Tosca” in 2018 and “Fidelio” in 2019.
Thanks to a clear positioning, the highest artistic demands and Johannes Wildner's incomparable enthusiasm, since 2014 more and more viewers have been able to attract more audiences to the Waldviertel Opera House. With the number of visitors growing from year to year, the importance of the castle as a summer venue also increased. The program was expanded to include a wide variety of concerts, exhibitions, readings and cabaret evenings. The season now ranges from the wine blessing on Easter Monday to the Babenberger Festival on November 15, with a special focus on offers for children.
