Herbert von Karajan influenced the development of the Salzburg Festival in a great variety of ways and like no other person before or since. He made his mark on the history of the world-renowned festival, not least because his involvement lasted very many years. Herbert von Karajan first conducted at the Salzburg Festival in 1933. In that year he conducted the incidental music for Goethe’s Faust, composed by Bernhard Paumgartner. The next festival engagements followed in 1948 when Karajan conducted Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice, Mozart’s Le nozze di Figaro and two orchestral concerts. In 1949 he again came back to Salzburg to conduct two orchestral concerts.

Rehearsal for Der Rosenkavalier by Richard Strauss - the opera production with which Karajan

inaugurated the newly built Grosses Festspielhaus on 26 July 1960

After a few years of travelling around, during which Karajan furthered his international career, from the summer of 1957 he again took up a long-term commitment to the city of his birth when he was appointed as artistic director of the Salzburg Festival. From then onwards until the end of his life he remained closely linked with the festival, initially as artistic director and then from 1964 also as a member of the board of directors.

Herbert von Karajan conducted 337 times at the Salzburg Festival - 247 opera performances and 90 concerts. He staged 14 operas himself.