Hinterhäuser wins music theatre prize and criticises Salzburg politics

Former Salzburg Festival director Markus Hinterhäuser received the Austrian Music Theatre Prize’s Grand Jury Prize on Tuesday evening and criticised political power structures in Salzburg and Austria, ORF reported. “Art is so much greater than the small-mindedness of politics,” said the pianist and cultural manager.

The Salzburg Festival parted ways with the 68-year-old in March after lengthy disputes over his leadership style and independent decisions. Politicians in the city and province of Salzburg, who are represented on the festival’s board of trustees, were involved in the decision.

The jury, chaired by culture editor Heinz Sichrovsky, praised Hinterhäuser’s “courage to embrace the unusual, his programming vision and his unfailing instinct for exceptional artistic personalities.” It said he had created new spaces for encounters, debate and artistic experience.

Writer Christoph Ransmayr presented the award to Hinterhäuser and greeted his longtime associate with the Tibetan salutation “Tashi Delek,” described as a wish for inner and outer happiness.

Ulrich Lenz, the former director of the Graz Opera, also criticised cultural policy in an acceptance speech. His contract was not extended in July by Bühnen Graz, whose managing director is Bernhard Rinner. Without naming individuals, Lenz said some decision-makers in the sector “could not care less about the quality of what we do” and made short-sighted cuts solely to maintain their own power.

The winners of the 14th Austrian Music Theatre Prize were announced at Vienna’s Votive Church. The awards also included a lifetime achievement prize for 86-year-old soprano Anja Silja and recognition for Asmik Grigorian as a leading current star of her voice category.

Grigorian won the award for best female lead for her performance as Norma in the opera of the same name at Theater an der Wien. The 45-year-old Lithuanian singer previously achieved her international breakthrough as Salome at the Salzburg Festival.

American tenor Michael Spyres won best male lead for his performance as Giovanni Pierluigi Palestrina in Palestrina at the Vienna State Opera. In his acceptance speech, he praised Austria as “one of the greatest countries in the world” because it understood that art was a genuine profession.

Patricia Nolz and Jörg Schneider won the supporting role categories for their performances as Silla in Palestrina at the State Opera and the Doctor in Three Sisters at the Salzburg Festival, respectively.

Claus Guth was named best director for his productions of Bluebeard and The Human Voice at the Erl Festival. Maxime Pascal won best conductor for Three Sisters at the Salzburg Festival.

The Salzburg production Zaide, an unusual Mozart project conceived by Raphaël Pichon, won the prize for best opera production. Josef E. Köpplinger’s production of Waldmeister, staged as part of the Vienna Festival Year Johann Strauss 2025, was named best operetta.

Köpplinger, 62, said in his acceptance speech: “The most important thing nowadays is that we remain free,” setting the tone for a ceremony marked by political statements.

The musical Letters from Ruth by Gisle Kverndokk won best musical production for its treatment of the Holocaust, an unusual subject for the genre. The production was staged at the now-closed Kammeroper Wien.

The Volksoper production Alma, a bio-opera about Alma Mahler-Werfel by composer Ella Milch-Sheriff, won best world premiere. The small Viennese avant-garde theatre Bronski & Grünberg won best off-production for its Eurovision Song Contest tribute Eurobronski.