Another Fun Free Article about Salzburg

Four days ago on Aug 29 (Fri) my partner and I attended the performance described in the article: Verdi’s “Macbeth” at the Grosses Festspielhaus in Salzburg, Austria. Though the two performances and venues were very different, we enjoyed it more than our experience at the Budapest Opera House on Aug 14 where we attended a performance of the opera Don Pascale. (Note that I am no opera fan and will probably never attend such performances again; nonetheless I had a good time and am glad to have attended both performances.)

Given my experience of feeling a bit overdressed (based on the attire of most other men) in our box seats at the Aug 14 Budapest Opera performance (as described in my Aug 15 post https://community.ricksteves.com/travel-forum/hungary/attire-at-hungarian-state-opera-house-quick-report), I almost ditched my suit jacket and trousers for more casual wear. I ultimatedly decided to attend in suit jacket and trousers with white shirt, ditching only the tie. Given the lively discussion following the afore-mentioned Aug 15 post, I decided to note the attire of males attending "Macbeth" in Salzburg.

I don't recall seeing any male who was not wearing a suit jacket or blazer with light-colored shirt, and about half were also wearing ties. This was true regardless of seat category. (For what it's worth, we were in category 3 seats.) Unlike the Aug 14 performance in Budapest, almost everyone in the audience returned after intermission.

Since I am on the topic of attire, I'll throw in that on Aug 30 (Sat) we attended a performance of music by Mozart at Mirabel Palace in Salzburg. Small venue with much friendlier price than "Macbeth", and even friendlier with a Rick Steves discount. Business casual (as I recall) was defined as desired attire by the venue. In this case, I wore a long-sleeved dark-hued shirt with light-colored trousers. Almost all of the men seated in the front row where I was wore blue jeans, and the woman next to me was wearing black flip-flops. Regardless of attire, all clearly enjoyed the performance. (Afterwards a few attendees gathered around a cellphone outside in the Mirabel garden to listen to what sounded like a loud livestream of a (US) football game.)

What you are describing is an event attended by Austrians vs. an event attended by tourists.

What you are describing is an event attended by Austrians vs. an event attended by tourists.

Most of the folks at the Macbeth performance were indeed speaking German (and thus l assume Austrian), but there were also a fair number of non-Austrians attending. I heard several different languages, with some folks coming from the same lodging as us. These foreign visitors appeared to be serious classical music aficiandos who valued being in Salzburg for the festival, and at the performance.

After the performance ended we squeezed onto a public bus along with many other audience members. The happy banter on that bus reminded me of what one would hear after a rock concert attended by teenagers -- though it was coming from older generations.

BTW Emily, thank you for the great advice you provided on this forum for visiting Schönbrunn Palace. We benefited during our 5 night stay in Vienna.

My first independent travel trip was to Salzburg for the Salzburger Festspiele in 2014. I watched this trailer for the event over and over and over in anticipation of the trip. Salzburg far exceeded my expectations.

Yes, I probably should have said serious music fans vs. tourists.