The Innsbruck Festival of Early Music 2024 ended with a concert by musical director Ottavio Dantone on 29 August and the finale of the Cesti Competition on 30 August, achieving an overall attendance rate of 97%. From July 21 to August 30, more than 20,000 guests from Austria and abroad attended a total of 56 festival events - 23 of which were free of charge. The new management team with Commercial Director Dr. Markus Lutz, Artistic Director Eva-Maria Sens and Musical Director Ottavio Dantone can therefore look back with satisfaction on the 48th edition of the Festwochen, which this year focused on the question “Where do we come from? Where are we going?”. The 49th edition will take place in July and August 2025 and the program will be announced on 5 December 2024.
The new Musical Director Ottavio Dantone celebrated an extremely successful debut with audiences and critics alike with the sold-out Concerto inaugurale “Famos!”, three successful performances of the opera “Cesare in Egitto” and his chamber music concert “Ottavio plus” in the Spanish Hall.
“Behind us lies an exceptionally colorful Festwochen summer: we have created something that has delighted and will resonate for a long time - in us, our artists and our guests. We were able to inspire the audience with our ideas to give the Festwochen a new twist, small deviations from the previous path. Anyone who wasn't in Innsbruck this summer has definitely missed something!” says Artistic Director Eva-Maria Sens, summing up their first season together.
The traditional finale of the festival summer was the final concert of the 15th International Singing Competition for Baroque Opera “Pietro Antonio Cesti” at the Haus der Musik Innsbruck on August 30. Countertenor Maximiliano Danta from Uruguay won over the jury and was awarded first place.
Ottavio Dantone's first musical opera rediscovery was “Cesare in Egitto” by Geminiano Giacomelli, who spent a few months in Graz in 1737 as “diretto degli spettacoli”. The management team thus demonstrated its desire to enrich the musical repertoire with composers and works whose creations and genesis are linked to Austrian music history. The Baroque opera:Jung “Arianna” with former participants of the Cesti competition was also a complete success: sold out early and enthusiastically acclaimed by critics and audiences alike. With two sold-out evenings and standing ovations at the premiere, the third opera “Dido” was also a crowd-puller.
Concerts such as “Beyond” with Jakub Josef Orlinski and the ensemble Il Pomo d'oro at the Hofburg in Innsbruck, the opening concert “Il trionfo della Fama” under the musical direction of Ottavio Dantone with the Accademia Bizantina were also completely sold out, the choirs NovoCanto and La Stagione Armonica and selected soloists as well as the open-mind concert “Dancing Madness” at the Tiroler Landestheater, the “Bach Cantatas” by the Bach Collegium Japan under Masaaki Suzuki.
“The joy and success of the first season under the new artistic direction is not only reflected in the many responses from the audience, but also in the figures - which naturally makes me particularly happy as Commercial Director. Many events were sold out, and the overall occupancy rate of 97% is a seamless continuation of previous successful years,” explains Commercial Director Dr. Markus Lutz.
Well over 11,000 guests attended the opera and concert events. In addition, over 9,000 people attended the free events of the Festwochen, such as the “Concerto mobile”, “Musica montana”, the lunch concerts, the Ambras Castle Festival and “Pauken und Trompeten” at the Golden Roof.
The events of the Festwochen attract more and more media representatives to Innsbruck every year: 66 journalists from 12 countries reported on the various events via radio, podcast, print media, television reports and live radio shows during the Festwochen months of July and August.
The 49th Innsbruck Festival of Early Music will take place in July and August 2025. The program will be published on December 5, 2024. Advance ticket sales start on December 13, 2025.
The Festwochen team would like to thank all the artists and the audience for countless wonderful Festwochen moments. We would also like to express our special thanks to all supporters, sponsors and partners who have made this diverse 2024 program possible.