Is Burgenland, the small province of Austria, Europe´s largest open air stage? Hard to believe, but maybe absolutely right.
In 2008, more than 700.000 people have been to the summer festivals in Burgenland - where only about 280.000 people are living. This is an enormous economic success in tourism.
Just 50 years ago, Burgenland was like an unimportant, white spot on the cultural map. We have not been able to afford an opera house nor a federal theater in the country, and so we aren´t today. But what we have been proud of is a fantastic countryside and a small but effective number of idealistic people who have always tried to establish a new sense of arts and culture. And they have succeeded, at least.
The profitability is about 100 Million Euros (135 Million US-Dollars), infrastructural investments and all the profits in tourism included. The festival summer has become a very important factor for the economy of Burgenland!
The most popular events are settled in the northern part: the opera festival of St. Margarethen near Eisenstadt, the operetta festival of Mörbisch at Lake Neusiedl and the “Nova Rock” festival near Nickelsdorf.
This year, 167.000 people have been listening to the famous opera of “La Traviata” by Giuseppe Verdi in the quarry of St. Margarethen. Though everything depends on the weather, people can´t be restrained from going to the performances. What a crowd! Besides this, 21.000 young people watched the children´s opera of “Max and Moritz” (based on a popular book for kids) and 13.000 people (total sum) have seen the concerts of opera singer Elina Garanca, Italian songwriter Paolo Conte and Austria´s rock star Christina Stürmer.
In Mörbisch, almost 200.000 guests have applauded to the operetta of “Im Weißen Rössl” (“In the White Horse Inn”) by Ralph Benatzky. The stage is built right in the Lake Neusiedl, which gives us a fantastic view. Some of you readers have been to the stage in 2006 being welcomed by art director Professor Harald Serafin.
The youngest among the festivals in Burgenland is “Nova Rock”, actually established for a younger audience. 160.000 people came to the three-days-event at an open air stage near the village of Nickelsdorf.
And what else? There are: the open air theaters of Kobersdorf, Güssing, Parndorf and Kittsee, the
“J:Opera” at Schloss Tabor in Neuhaus am Klausenbach, the “Liszt Festival” in Raiding and the “Kultursommer” in Güssing, the “Klangfrühling” at Burg Schlaining and many other events, too.
The program of the next season: “Rigoletto” by Verdi in St. Margarethen; “Il mondo della luna” by Joseph Haydn in Neuhaus; “My Fair Lady” by Frederick Loewe in Mörbisch; “Der Talisman” by Johann Nestroy in Güssing etc. In 2009, the entire Burgenland, especially the capital of Eisenstadt, will be involved in the year-round festivities celebrating the composer Joseph Haydn, who lived in Eisenstadt for thirty years and died in 1809.

So come and see! Mag. Walter Dujmovits, jun.