31 Oct 2005

A Singing Hiker Who Scales the Heights of Mozart Opera

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/31/arts/31conn.html

salzburg_nebel_small.jpgBy EDWARD ROTHSTEIN [NY Times, 31 October 2005]

SALZBURG, Austria - Standing in the Barmstein mountains, not far from Salzburg, I am listening to a fourth-generation Salzburger sing Mozart in the woods. It is not exactly on a scale with next year's plans to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of Mozart, this city's most famous native son. Those events will dominate the musical life of Salzburg and Vienna. Mozart's complete operas are to be performed at next summer's Salzburg Festival; Robert Wilson is designing what is bound to be a strange installation in the building where Mozart was born; multiday Mozart biking tours are planned for those who want to follow in his coach tracks; musicians will make pilgrimages to perform and audiences to listen.