Salzburg lies in the heart of Europe, in the centre between the South and North and the East and West of the reunited continent. But for six weeks a year Salzburg is the centre of the world, when the most prestigious music festival on earth opens with a celebration on the city’s squares and streets. Ninety years ago the Salzburg Festival was founded by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Max Reinhardt and Richard Strauss as a peace project aimed at reconciling the peoples of a devastated Europe. Today opera, theatre and concerts offers a broad spectrum ranging from Mozart – the festival’s genius loci – to the modern, from classic productions to avant-garde experiments, and from Hofmannsthal’s “Everyman” to world premières by contemporary playwrights and composers.