This opening, celebrated by Hans Peter Haselsteiner, the President of the festival, featured an concert on December 26 with bel canto arias, two world premieres and Bartok’s opera Duke Bluebeard’s Castle both staged and conducted by the festival’s intendant, Gustav Kuhn.

Not far from Germany’s Bavarian region, the hall, seating 862, will now be the center of the festival, founded in 1998. Continuing to January 6, productions of Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro and Verdi’s Nabucco will be presented. The festival’s website is http://www.tiroler-festspiele.at/

Frank Cadenhead