W.A. Mozart: Davide penitente – Bartabas & Marc Minkowski

For this spectacular production of Mozart’s Davide penitente on the vast stage of the Salzburg Felsenreitschule at the Mozart Week 2015, Marc Minkowski and the equestrian choreographer Bartabas used dancing horses and thus restored the former riding school to its original function. Horses, riders from the Académie équestre de Versailles and Bartabas himself, whose successful productions are unique in the world of art, perform their elegant dressage arabesques within this exceptional setting. Soloists, chorus and orchestra are ranged over three levels on galleries cut from the bare rock. The result is a unique synthesis of the arts.

“A festival of beauty”. (Münchener Abendzeitung)

“Minkowski and Bartabas have created a great piece of theatre”. (NMZ)

Bartabas in Salzburg 2017 – Mozart: Requiem

An absolute highlight of Salzburg’s Mozart Week with “highest art of sound and riding“ (Kronenzeitung): the French equine artist and theatrical genius Bartabas presents Mozart’s Requiem. Horses and riders from the formidable Académie Équestre de Versailles join forces with the Musiciens du Louvre, conducted by Marc Minkowski, the Salzburger Bachchor and “an excellent quartet of soloists“ (Kurier), namely Genia Kühmeier, Elisabeth Kulman, Julien Behr and Charles Dekeyser, to place the Requiem into a new theatrical context. Restoring the Felsenreitschule’s original purpose – a riding school – and at the same time including ist impressive architecture of arcades into the musical dramaturgy, the production is a breath-taking synthesis of the arts. By meticulously refining the skillfully regulated interactions between humans, animals and music, Bartabas and his horsemen have created a production which is much more than a great show riding choreography: it’s a moving exploration of the interconnectedness of existence. A piece of art with an “exceptional power of attraction” (Schwäbische Zeitung), “a requiem for all senses“ (Kronenzeitung).