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With "Mozart 22", the Salzburg Festival presents an undertaking of utterly unique dimensions, the project of a century. The performance of the complete operas by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at the Salzburg Festival 2006 provides an invaluable opportunity to comprehensively to trace the artistic evolution of this musical genius and his unmistakable compositional idiom. Unitel/Classica and Bernhard Fleischer Moving Images (BFMI) have made it their goal to preserve this extraordinary artistic achievement and make it accessible to a broad public. In conjunction with the Salzburg Festival they produce 20 one-hour documentaries and 22 operas which will consist of recordings of the stage works, rehearsals, interviews with artists, and background reports that will shed light on the meticulously planned, multi-layered genesis of the musical interpretations and stage productions. The length of all opera recordings will be 51 hours.
“Mozart 22” is produced by Unitel and BFMI in co-production with ORF, Bayerischer Rundfunk, 3sat and Classica in co-operation with the Salzburg Festival. The DVD-edition will be released by Deutsche Grammophon and Decca before Christmas. The Recording of "Mozart 22" – A Production of Superlatives
The preparations for this gigantic project began three years ago; today, about 160 people are´working on it nearly around the clock. All 22 operas will be recorded in high-resolution HD technology and 5.1 Dolby Surround sound. To this end, 50,000 meters of cable have been laid out in seven venues: the Grosses Festspielhaus, the Haus fr Mozart, the Felsenreitschule, the Universittsaula, the Residenzhof and the Landestheater. Shooting takes place on 53 days, whereby several operas are always recorded simultaneously. Each opera is recorded three times. Up to twelve cameras are used for each recording, whereby one camera is trained exclusively on the conductor. The best shots can thus be selected during the editing process. Altogether, the net production time for all 22 works comprises a mere four months – a Herculean accomplishment when one considers that the production of one opera is usually allotted two months. In addition to the recording, the production also encompasses the entire post-production, which includes editing, color correction, sound mixing in Dolby Surround and stereo as well as the titling and design of the DVD jackets.
Direction The video direction has been entrusted to Stefan Aglassinger ("Il Re Pastore," "Bastien und Bastienne," "Der Schauspieldirektor," "Betulia Liberata" and "Ascanio in Alba"), Thomas Grimm ("Cos fan Tutte" and "Idomeneo"), Hannes Rossacher ("Lucio Silla"), Karina Fibich ("Don Giovanni"), Brian Large ("Le Nozze di Figaro” and "Die Zauberflte”), Agnes Mth ("La Finta Giardiniera"), Andreas Morell ("Zaide – Adama"), Peter Schnhofer ("Mitridate"), Tomas Simerda ("Die Entfhrung aus dem Serail"), Anais and Olivier Spiro ("Irrfahrten"- Trilogy) and Christian Kurt Weiss ("Il Sogno di Scipione," "Apollo & Hyacinthus," "Die Schuldigkeit des ersten Gebots"). Live Broadcasts and Documentaries Unitel/Classica and BFMI are transmitting many highlights of the Salzburg Festival live. Garnering 1.5 million viewers on ARD and a market share of 25% on ORF, "Le Nozze di Figaro" scored highly respectable ratings at the opening of the festival on 26 July. ORF boasted a market share of 19% or 300,000 viewers on its second channel with "The Magic Flute" on 4 August. Further broadcasts are "Don Giovanni" on 15 August (ORF), "Zaide – Adama" on 26 August (3sat) and "Mitridate" on 28 August (also on 3sat). Dates for the documentaries showed on 3sat are not yet confirmed.The complete "Mozart 22" cycle and documentary series will be aired in Germany and Austria on Classica, the classical-music TV channel on Premiere (Pay TV). The Classica program is also available from Pay-TV platforms in Italy (Sky), Spain (Imagenio) and Japan.
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