Schwarzenberg Schubertiade and Salzburg Festival, August 2026

After our weekend of fugues in Victoria I managed to have a couple of nights at home in Adelaide before heading back to Europe. Last year I had the privilege of leading this tour, which took us to Salzburg first and then to Schwarzenberg in western Austria. (You can read about it in this blog.) In this year's Austrian odyssey the locations - due to performance dates - were reversed.

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19 August:

And it's back to Europe for Hayllar Music Tours and a return to Austria.

First it's flying to Munich. Then we head by coach to western Austria and the 50th Schwarzenberg Schubertiade. After that it's on to the Salzburg Festival.

I led this tour last year (with the festivals attended in the reverse order) and am looking forward to it immensely. Thankfully the predicted temperatures are mild compared to what we experienced in Aix-en-Provence last month.

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21 August:

After an overnight in a hotel in Munich, today (Friday) is a travel day at the start of this Hayllar Music Tours visit to Austria.

It's about a four-hour coach trip from here to the tiny town of Mellau in the Austrian Alps which will be our base for five nights while we attend performances nearby at the Schwarzenberg Schubertiade.

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23 August:

Saturday was our first full day based in Mellau in the Austrian Alps and attending the 50th Schwarzenberg Schubertiade. In the morning I gave my first talk to our guests, after which we were joined by pianist Ammiel Bushakevitz, one of the Schubertiade artists, for a Q+A session.

Ammiel undertook a session like this for us last year and kindly agreed to do so again. Hearing him share a little of his incredibly busy life and his approach to his work was fascinating.

After lunch we headed to Schwarzenberg, about 15 minutes drive away, for our first two concerts.

The 16.00 performance featured a string quartet, Quatuor Danel, who opened proceedings with Schubert's A minor quartet (nicknamed the "Rosamunde" quartet). After interval they were joined by pianist Elisabeth Leonskaja for the Schumann piano quintet. Brilliant, dazzling performances.

After dinner the 20.00 concert featured Schubert and Schumann lieder, with baritone Konstantin Krimmel and Ammiel Bushakevitz. The second half comprised Schumann's Dichterliebe cycle. These artists gave us shatteringly good performances of Schubert cycles last year and this concert was no less gripping. I've never heard lieder performances like this and loved every second of their powerful collaboration.

We're off to a wonderful start.

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24 August:

Sunday was a big day on this Hayllar Music Tours visit to Austria with three performances to attend in the Schwarzenberg Schubertiade.

After my morning talk we attended the 11.00 performance, an all-Dvořák performance given by the Pavel Haas Quartet from Prague. They began with the A flat quartet, Op 105, and then were joined by two other musicians to play the early (but wonderful) A major string sextet. A beautiful way to start a brilliantly sunny Sunday.

After lunch we returned for the 16.00 performance, a gorgeous lieder recital given by soprano Christiane Karg, with David Fray at the piano. This was an all-Schubert program, comprising songs setting texts by Friedrich Schiller. Such beautiful artistry from both performers.

Of special note was their performance of the early Leichenfantasie (D7), completely new to me. This enormous work (the title means Corpse Fantasy) is far more than a mere song; it's a miniature opera scene. I'd never heard anything like it in this sort of context.

Then, after dinner in a local restaurant, came the event many here were especially looking forward to: Elisabeth Leonskaja's solo piano recital at 20.00.

I was bowled over by this amazing woman's recital last year, and like last year, this performance was an all-Schubert program: the B major sonata (D575), the D935 Impromptus, and the massive A major sonata (D959).

Now in her 81st year, Leonskaja is (to use a well-worn cliche) a force of nature. No fuss, no histrionics, no time wasting. Just sit down and play some of the most ferociously difficult music ever conceived for the piano. It was take it or leave it, and the audience was very happy to take, a monumental experience from a truly grand artist.

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25 August:

Monday on this tour saw us journey by coach - in beautiful sunny weather - to Bregenz on the shore of Lake Constance. There we met our local guide and boarded a ferry across the lake (and across the border into Germany) to the island of Lindau.

We had a walking tour of Lindau, which is full of beautifully maintained buildings dating back centuries. The island is connected to the mainland by a bridge and after lunch the coach took us back to our hotel in Mellau.

I gave my talk in the early evening, and after dinner we headed to Schwarzenberg for our 20.00 concert.

This featured music for piano trio, played by Veronika Eberle, Julia Hagen and Lukas Sternath (violin, cello and piano). The program started with Brahms' monumental third trio (C minor, Op 101), followed by the rarely-heard first trio of Shostakovich (written when he was sixteen).

After interval we heard one of the greatest of all piano trios (and one of my favourite works of any kind), the E flat trio of Schubert (D929).

From what I understand, these musicians don't regularly play together as a trio but collaborated for this event. Each was a superb performer and their combined playing gave the impression they'd played together for years. This was stunning music making from start to finish. The Schubert sent the audience wild - deservedly - resulting in a beautiful Mendelssohn encore. It was quite a night.

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26 August:

Tuesday was our final day at the Schwarzenberg Schubertiade on this Hayllar Music Tours tour. I gave my talk in the morning, but otherwise the morning and early afternoon were free.

We then headed to Schwarzenberg for two final concerts. The 16.00 performance featured the Canadian pianist Marc-André Hamelin, an artist I've long admired from his recordings but never before heard live.

His program was challenging on many levels: Beethoven D major sonata (Op 10/3), Schumann Fantasiestücke (Op 12), and Schubert G major sonata (D894). Here again (as with Elisabeth Leonskaja) we experienced calm, focused, unhistrionic music making from a great artist. I found it mesmerising.

Then at 20.00 something both familiar and new. I seem to be hearing Schubert's greatest song cycle - Winterreise - a lot in recent years, not that I mind! It's a miracle from start to finish.

But I can't recall hearing it sung by a woman before. The poems tell the story of a man dealing with the rejection of the woman he loves, but such experiences are of course universal. Still, hearing songs so closely aligned with tenors and baritones sung by a mezzo was an intriguing prospect.

In the end, the experience was magnificent, both musically and emotionally. Sophie Rennert gave us a deeply touching performance that had the audience involved from the first note. Again, no histrionics. Just beautiful singing and wonderful emotion.

In all this she was supported by the wonderfully intense artistry of Joseph Middleton at the piano. I heard things in the piano part that I don't recall hearing before. It was, from both artists, a revelation.

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27 August:

Wednesday was a travel day on this current tour, starting in Mellau and ending in Salzburg.

But in between there were some noteworthy experiences. From the outset, the mountain road from Mellau to Innsbruck left us gasping at the utter magnificence of the scenery. In fact "scenery" is such inadequate word for the indescribable beauty of the Austrian Alps in summer.

I didn't even try to get pics. Nothing captured on my phone could have conveyed the overwhelming grandeur of it all. And our wonderful coach driver Sascha handled the challenging roads masterfully.

In Innsbruck we had walking tour of the old town, followed by an hour of free time to wander and have lunch. I loved being back in this beautiful city (we made a similar stop on this tour last year) and I took a few photos.

It was then on to Salzburg. After checking into our beautiful hotel we headed off to the old town for a lovely dinner at the Goldener Hirsch, just a few metres down the street from where Mozart was born. As you do.

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28 August:

So we're in Salzburg and the summer festival is on. After the rustic intimacy of Schwarzenberg, our Hayllar Music Tours visit has kicked into high gear.

We started our Thursday with my talk to our guests, after which we embarked on a walking tour of the city. This ended at the magnificent Salzburg Cathedral (about which I have waxed lyrical in past years) in time for us to attend a midday organ recital.

The cathedral (in which Biber, Michael Haydn, and both Mozarts - father and son - performed, among others) is one of the great sacred spaces of the world. Its massive interior contains five fixed organs, each in their own gallery, with two chamber organs available as well. This short recital began and ended with the massive grand organ in the western gallery, but also gave us the chance to hear three of the other organs. (The organist got plenty of exercise moving from one to the other!) We heard music by JS Bach, Scheidt, Rheinberger, Corrette and - perhaps inevitably - Widor. The acoustic did not disappoint.

After a free afternoon we then walked to the Grosses Festspielhaus, the major venue for the festival, to hear an orchestral concert. The Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Manfred Honeck was in fine form.

They started with an orchestration of Erwin Schulhoff's Five Pieces for String Quartet, which was a real winner. Fantastic music, fantastically orchestrated. This was followed by the Rachmaninov Paganini Rhapsody - always a hit - but especially so in the hands of brilliant pianist Alexandre Kantorow. It was perhaps the fastest performance of this masterpiece that I've ever heard but the orchestra supported the soloist magnificently.

After interval we had a wonderful performance of Shostakovich 5, one of the most important masterpieces of the 20th century. I really like what Honeck did with the piece, although at times the extremely soft dynamics bordered on the inaudible in the vast space of the Festspielhaus. Still, there was no missing the power of the famous ending, in which Honeck took the "slow" option, with great effect.

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29 August:

As usual, our day in Salzburg started with my talk for our guests. We then headed about an hour by coach out of town for our Friday on this Hayllar Music Tours itinerary, crossing back into Germany to visit the breathtaking Königssee. This stunning freshwater glacial lake was a highlight of this tour last year and it was wonderful to experience this sublime location again.

The ferry ride from the top of the lake to the pilgrimage church of St Bartholomew takes about half an hour. Once there our local guide shared some of the story of the church before we had lunch and returned by ferry to our coach.

After a rest back at our hotel, we headed out to hear the first of two operas at the Salzburg Festival. The venue was the smaller of the two main theatres, known as the Haus für Mozart (formerly known as the Kleines Festspielhaus).

The opera, Richard Strauss's Ariadne auf Naxos, is brilliant. Crazy, but brilliant. And I thought it was well cast and well sung.

The production - as always in Europe - has occasioned much comment and some very negative reviews. I had been warned and I'd read the reviews. As it turned out I thought it was pretty mild in terms of shock value. The setting (Mars...no really, Mars...with spaceships) didn't offend and didn't get in the way. It was silly but easily ignored.

The rest was a bit zany, but I didn't mind. It's that kind of piece. And with the Vienna Philharmonic under Manfred Honeck in the pit, the music was very well served.

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30 August:

Saturday was the second last day of the 2026 Salzburg Festival and the second last full day of this Hayllar Music Tours visit to Austria.

I gave my final talk to our guests in the morning, after which we headed to the first of two performances in the Grosses Festspielhaus today.

At 11.00 we heard a sensational concert given by the Vienna Philharmonic under the baton of Andris Nelsons. The first half was to have been the Rachmaninov third concerto with Daniil Trifonov as soloist, but sadly he had to cancel for health reasons.

The stand-in soloist was none other than Yuja Wang, and the concerto she played was the infamously difficult Prokoviev second. I'd never heard this famous pianist live and like everyone else present was utterly stunned by her performance. The Prokoviev second takes no prisoners but Wang ate it for breakfast. Phenomenal.

The second half provided an opportunity to hear one of the world's great orchestras in full flight in two of Richard Strauss's tone poems: Don Juan and Till Eulenspiegel. What can I say? It was magnificent, a privilege to witness.

We returned to the same venue for another performance at 18.30. This was Christof Loy's production of Mozart's Cosí fan tutte. Given in modern dress on an almost bare white stage (and with the Vienna Philharmonic in the open pit, in full view of the audience) this was simply magical. A wonderful cast, and wonderfully conducted by Christoph Koncz. Loved it.

On a personal note, it was a delight to meet up with the wonderful Robert Gay today, who is in town leading a tour for Limelight Travel. Robert and I go waaaay back to shared performances in Sydney in 1979 and 1980. In recent years we've met up in tour leading roles in Aix-en-Provence, Vienna and even Bendigo. Now we can add Salzburg to the list.

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31 August:

The morning of the last full day of our Hayllar Music Tours Austrian adventure saw us visit Schloss Hellbrunn, about 20 minutes by road from central Salzburg. Built in the 17th century as a pleasure retreat for the Prince Archbishops of Salzburg, this place is famous for its gardens and playful trick fountains and water features.

We had perfect weather for our guided tour (and for getting caught by the hidden water jets operated by our sneaky guide).

After lunch we returned to our hotel but before long we were off to the Grosses Festspielhaus one more time. The 16.00 performance featured famous tenor Juan Diego Flórez and pianist Vincenzo Scalera in a recital program.

The program ranged from Italian and French opera arias to Spanish songs and much more. Of course there were encores, including that aria from The Daughter of the Regiment (the nine top Cs were in fine form). But I particularly loved the encores in which Flórez accompanied himself on guitar in folksongs from Argentina and Mexico. These were delightful.

After the concert we went to a nearby restaurant for our farewell dinner. We were in excellent company as Mr Flórez and some friends were at a nearby table.

It's been a brilliant tour, managed superbly by my HMT colleague Allanah Coldwell. Now for the long journey home.

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