| Salzburg Whitsun Festival Pfingstfestspiele Salzburg | |
|---|---|
| Genre | |
| Date(s) | Pentecost weekend (moveable) |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Venue | |
| Location(s) | Salzburg, Austria |
| Inaugurated | 1973 |
| Founder | Herbert von Karajan |
| Leader | Cecilia Bartoli, Artistic Director |
| Organised by | Salzburg Festival |
| Website | salzburgerfestspiele |
The Salzburg Whitsun Festival (German: Pfingstfestspiele Salzburg), at times branded as Whitsun+Baroque (Pfingten+Barock) or Salzburg Festival Whitsun (Salzburger Festspiele Pfingsten), is a classical music and opera festival held every year in Salzburg, Austria over Pentecost (Whitsun) weekend in late May or early June.
It was created in 1973 by the conductor Herbert von Karajan, and until the 1997 edition called the Salzburg Whitsun Concerts (Pfingstkonzerte Salzburg). The short concert series initially served as a complement to the Salzburg Easter Festival, founded in 1967 by Karajan with the Berlin Philharmonic.
In 1998, production was transferred to the organisation which puts out the (summertime) Salzburg Festival, and augmented with an opera performance, with a focus on the baroque and classical periods. Since 2012, its artistic director has been the Italian mezzo-soprano Cecilia Bartoli. Les Musiciens du Prince, the pit orchestra of the opéra de Monte-Carlo of which Bartoli is also artistic director, is in residence at the festival.
Performances usually take place at the adjoining venues of the summer festival, the Salzburg Great Festival Theatre, the smaller Haus für Mozart and the open-air Felsenreitschule, as well as at the Mozarteum.