THE MOZARTEUM FOUNDATION
Mozart’s heritage – preservation and contemporary encounters
The Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg is a non-profit organization whose primary focus has been the life and œuvre of Wolfgang Amadé Mozart. The organisation offers concerts [»], maintains the Mozart museums [»] and supports academic research [»]. These three core areas seek not only to preserve and foster tradition but to be open to changing perspectives and consider new approaches when encountering the works of Mozart.
Concerts
With the two festivals „Mozart Week“ and „Dialogues“ such as the chamber music concert series, the Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg is present with concerts throughout the whole year.
Each year around the time of Mozart's birth in January, the Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg hosts the Mozart Week with opera performances and orchestral, chamber, and soloist concerts. World-renowned Mozart interpreters, orchestras, and ensembles are responsible for the unparalleled reputation of this unique event. This week of concerts, which was first held in 1956, invites visitors from around the world to rediscover Mozart's works from ever-changing perspectives and to hear them afresh.
Mozartweek [»]
The Dialogues festival was established to celebrate the Mozart Year in 2006. It is primarily aimed at an audience which is open to a controversial, contemporary take on new and classical music. For this purpose, the festival invites contemporary artists from the disciplines of music, dance, literature, fine art, and film. This interdisciplinary approach of the Dialogues festival seeks to move beyond the traditional concert protocol and develop unusual, powerful listening situations.
Dialogues [»]
The ‘Kammermusik im Wiener Saal’ cycle ('Chamber Music in the Viennese Hall’) takes place from October to June and is organized exclusively by the Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg. The audience will be presented both renowned chamber musicians and 'rising stars' – young instrumental soloists, singers, and ensembles who are already being booked to perform in the leading international venues. With this cycle the Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg provides a forum for chamber music in Salzburg.
Concert Season [»]
Museums
The Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg preserves the heritage of the Salzburg-born genius in the two Mozart museums (Mozart’s Birthplace and the Mozart Residence), which are two of the main touristic attractions in Salzburg.
Visitors to Mozart’s Birthplace are taken through original Mozart rooms where they can see historical instruments, Mozart’s concert violin and the majority of the Mozart portraits made during his lifetime. The exhibition in the third floor – the apartment where Mozart was born – is dedicated to Mozart and his family. The other two floors are dedicated to “Mozart and the theatre” and “The Everyday life of a prodigy”.
Mozart's Birthplace [»]
The Mozart Residence on the Makartplatz was bombed at the end of the Second World War and it was not until the 1990s that it was largely reconstructed to give an authentic impression of what it was like for the Mozart family to live in Salzburg during the 18th century. Through the biographies of the individual members of the Mozart family, visitors can gain some insights into their day-to-day joys, worries, enthusiasms and social activities. Until October 31st 2009, the special exhibition “Mozart and Haydn” can be seen here.
Mozart Residence [»]
Research
Tradition, preservation and an orientation towards the future are the tree hallmarks of the research program at the Mozarteum Foundation Salzburg.
The collection of autographs contains about 190 original letters by Mozart, about 370 by his father and over 100 autograph manuscripts of Mozart’s music, mainly sketches and drafts but also some original scores. Visits of the autograph vault are limited and only possible for groups with advanced reservation. The Bibliotheca Mozartiana contains about 35,000 titles and is the most extensive Mozart library in the world. Following the Neue Mozart Ausgabe (New Mozart Edition), the complete historic and critical edition of Mozart's works begun in 1954 and completed in June 2007, the Digital Mozart Edition is now being created as the definitive continuously updated online edition of Mozart's works. It will make New Mozart Edition freely available on the Internet for users worldwide.
Mozart Institute [»]
The Mozart audio and film collection contains about 17,815 audio titles and 1,729 video productions (film documentaries, plays and television films about Mozart, as well as opera productions) and thus creates a link to the present. Some of them are shown to the public during the Mozart Week.
Mozart Audio- Visual Collection [»]
