Prague reveals design plans for the Vltava Philharmonic Hall
The Danish studio Bjarke Ingels Group won the international architectural competition
The Vienna Philharmonic, conductor Herbert Blomstedt, Source: Marco Borrelli via the Salzburg Festival
The last 80 years of some of the best in theatre, classical music and opera have been preserved by the Austrian Media Library
Recordings of the last 80 years of the iconic Salzburg Festival will now be freely available in the Austrian Media Library, also known as Osterreich Mediatek. This is what the Viennese Technical University announced on Wednesday, as they finalised the digitalisation process of one of the most famous classical music festivals in the world.
The recordings were transferred to the Media Library for the 100th anniversary of the festival, as well as the 60th anniversary of the Library.
The enormous Salzburg media archive was started in 1937, with one of the first classical live recordings. The piece is called Falstaff, and it was directed by Arturo Toscanini. With that, festival organisers decided to start recording audio every year, and in 1980, they started videotaping performances.
The rich treasure trove offers theatre pieces, opera and classical music performances by some of the most iconic names of the 20th century. Some of the featured conductors are Arturo Toscanini, Herbert von Karajan, Seiji Ozawa, Karl Böhm, Claudio Abbado and Riccardo Muti, while some of the theatre directors include Ernst Haeusserman, Peter Stein, George Tabori and Hans Neuenfels.
Representatives of the Austrian Media Library estimate that the content could fill an entire two months of non-stop watching. They include 453 recordings, 262 audio and 191 video. Apart from the performed theatre pieces and musical pieces, there are also rare rehearsals.
Peter Aufreiter, the Director of the Technical Museum and the Austrian Media Library, explained that this occasion makes it abundantly clear how many invaluable cultural treasures lie buried in the basements of old institutions. He pointed out the impermanence of media carriers with digitalisation being the only sure way to store something for posterity.
The president of the Salzburg Festival, Helga Rabl-Stadler, was quoted in a press release, saying: “By digitizing house recordings, the festival can wrest important productions from oblivion. The cooperation will make the media library even more important in its role as the cultural memory of Austria.”
The recordings are now available on the Media Library website.
The local community welcomed Ukrainians fleeing war with outstanding support
Belgium will now join a small club of countries empowering youth political participation – Austria, Greece and Malta
The REPowerEU 200 billion-euro plan calls for a gradual reduction of Russian fuel imports
The Smart City Alliance has been quietly building functional tools for both citizens and authorities since 2016
Part of an ongoing trend among these institutions to increase convenience for users
Student teams will have 24 hours to come up with solutions for that issue
The Smart City Alliance has been quietly building functional tools for both citizens and authorities since 2016
The cities met last week in Katowice to draft a plan on how to facilitate cycling between their territories
The REPowerEU 200 billion-euro plan calls for a gradual reduction of Russian fuel imports
It is renewing and introducing direct flight connections to attract visitors from the US, Middle East and Europe
The Catalonian capital’s society and the trajectory of its attitudes have been studied since 1998
The Finnish capital will hold ‘Entrepreneur Day for Women’ next month
These will be spread across 11 EU countries and will serve to support the EU Missions
The European Commission has accepted to develop the idea
An interview about AYR, one of the 2021 New European Bauhaus Prize winners
An interview with Nigel Jollands and Sue Goeransson from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development
An interview with the President of the City of Athens Reception & Solidarity Centre
A talk with the Mayor of Malmö on the occasion of the city’s UN Resilience Hub status