Hinterhäuser is out as Salzburg Festival artistic director after a decade in the influential role

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Markus Hinterhäuser is out as artistic director of the Salzburg Festival after a decade in one of Europe’s most influential cultural roles, cutting short a tenure that had been set to run through 2031.

An Austrian pianist who turns 68 on Monday, Hinterhäuser became artistic director on Oct. 1, 2016. The festival announced in April 2024 that he had been given a third five-year term from 2026-31, but his relationship with management became strained.

“Due to irreconcilable differences of opinion, the Salzburg Festival and artistic director Markus Hinterhäuser have decided to part ways, effective immediately,” the festival's supervisory board said in a statement Thursday. “This is the result of a meeting between the lawyers for the Salzburg Festival’s supervisory board on the one hand and the artistic director and his counsel on the other.”

The board said Hinterhäuser will be on leave until his current contract ends on Sept. 30. The board said it will appoint a provisional artistic director "without delay” and said conversations with potential candidates had begun.

Hinterhäuser had been in position to become the Salzburg Festival's longest-serving artistic director since Herbert von Karajan from 1956-89.

Kristina Hammer, a lawyer, took over as festival president in 2022 from Helga Rabl-Stadler, who had been in charge since 1995.

This year's festival is scheduled to include 171 performances at 19 venues from July 17 to Aug. 30, plus 37 youth performances.