Salzburg Festival opens applications for commercial director

The Salzburg Festival’s board of trustees has advertised its commercial director post, with Lukas Crepaz’s contract due to end on 31 March 2027, ORF reported. It remains unclear whether Crepaz will seek another term after 10 years in the role.

The five-year appointment is due to begin on 1 April 2027. Applications close on 24 November. Crepaz had not responded to an inquiry from Austria’s APA news agency by Friday evening.

The successful candidate will oversee the festival’s operations and the “Festspielbezirk 2030” project to renovate, modernise and expand its festival venues while they remain in use. The Grand Festival House will have limited availability in 2028 and will be unavailable in 2029 and 2030. The Salzburg Arena at the exhibition centre was selected as a replacement venue last week.

The job advertisement also highlights the need for strong working relationships within the festival’s executive board. The commercial director holds one of its three seats, alongside the festival president and artistic director.

Crepaz is considered a key figure in the roughly 400 million euro renovation project, which he spent eight years preparing. After a meeting with board members in mid-September, speculation emerged that he might not apply again. The reasons remain unclear.

In the summer, Salzburg Governor Karoline Edtstadler, who chairs the board of trustees, announced a spending cap for the overall project. Under the cap, the second construction phase, which has not yet been fully funded, must be planned with about 86 million euros less than originally envisaged.