Music Today: We understand that you have been an internationally successful composer and a conductor in demand, and what drove you to pursue a career also in artistic management, in particular to become the managing director and intendant of the Salzburg Easter Festival?

Peter Ruzicka: Well I have two professions, the first is being a composer/conductor. I’ve been here with the Beijing Music Festival; I conducted several concerts with the China Philharmonic Orchestra, with Shanghai Symphony Orchestra two years ago. My second profession is music management. I was the intendant of the Hamburg State Opera, and later of Salzburg Summer Festival, and now since 2015 also of the Easter Salzburg Festival. This is a smaller festival but very exclusive. It also takes a lot of time — the moment you start with opera productions, you have a lot to organize: 700 different professions, not only musicians but also singers, stage directors, technicians. It’s a huge task of organization to bring this production from the Salzburg to the air. For me, this is different from being a composer/conductor. I never conduct in my own cycle, and I would not, let’s say, engage myself.

Music Today: Do you think your experience as the artistic director of the Munich Biennale and Salzburg Festival has influenced or inspired your current work philosophy at Salzburg Easter Festival?

Peter Ruzicka: Yeah, the Summer Festival is the biggest in the world. For instance, in the Mozart year 2006, we were producing 22 operas all on stage. This was a huge task. There were many skeptics saying this would never work and we’d cause a deficit, but it worked very well, and the income was very positive. In terms of my philosophy, I want to create programs of different kind, traditional music and also contemporary music. It’s important to open up yourself for the contemporary music… (the coffee machine squeaked while he mentioned “contemporary music” and we all laughed on this coincidence). As for the Easter Festival, you have only one opera but you have to cover the enormous expenses, so the prices are quite high in Salzburg. I should mention one figure: the best ticket is sold for 399 euros. And we have a rather traditional audience who don’t want experiments. In the summer when you have 5 or 6 premiers, you can be a little bit more risky and adventurous.

Music Today: From 1967 to 2012, the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra and its respective chief conductors were at the heart of the Easter Festival, and international guests came to Salzburg to experience this unique collaboration. But they were no longer the orchestra in residence since 2013. Do you think that has affected the passion of the audiences in any way?

Peter Ruzicka: No, the number of people coming to Salzburg has increased. Now we have a new orchestra in residence, the Staatskapelle Dresden and its conductor Christian Thielemann. He’s very popular, very efficient, and he is now the no.1 especially in the field of repertoire we’re doing such as Wagner’s. Staatskapelle Dresden is coming to Beijing in November with Alan Gilbert.

Music Today: How do yo think of Christian Thielemann as the Artistic Director of the Festival? Will the constellation of him and the Salzburg Easter Festival resemble the life-long relationship between Karajan and and the Festival?

Peter Ruzicka: Footsteps of Karajan are still existing in artistic level, but Thielemann is doing well. He was the assistant of Karajan, learned a lot from him like his approach to traditional music, and was also very close to his aesthetics. I know him since decades ago when I was the intendant of the Hamburg Opera. It was in 1991, and he was on his first Tristan und Isolde. This extended his career almost enormously.

Music Today: How do you envision the future development for Salzburg Easter Festival?

Peter Ruzicka: The number of participants are improving with 93% sold tickets this year, especially in view of the prices. This is sort of a community where many many people come from all continents regularly and meet for a week in Salzburg.

Music Today: Does the Easter Festival have any plans to develop more expansive and deeper connections with Chinese audience or engage more with Chinese organizations? What about other countries?

Peter Ruzicka: We actually had just made a presentation at the Austrian embassy and invited many travel organizations. Our feeling is that there’s a good chance for groups to come to Salzburg. At least 400 or 500 people come from Japan for the Easter Festival regularly. I hope we will grow this idea in China as well. I’m also going to New York in November to introduce the new festival of 2018 with a little video and some additional information. I’ll tell you a secret, the 2019 opera will be Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg by Wagnar and 2020 Don Carlos. We’ve even planned for 2021 but we’re not ready to announce it.

Music Today: Is it a standard procedure to start planning so early?

Peter Ruzicka: Yes, of course. It was Long Yu three and a half years ago that asked me, “Would you be interested in joining the coproduction of Die Walküre?” I said “Yes, we will do that!” “So your 50th anniversary at Salzburg and our 20th anniversary come together, an ideal combination,” said him. So three and a half years ago, this came into being.

Music Today: To what extent has the festival contributed to the local tourism every year? Do you accept fundings or other kind of support from the local government?

Peter Ruzicka: We earn 92% of our budget from selling tickets, so the subsidies of the government are rather limited. My task will be to push that number to 100% and we’ll be financially independent. Hopefully we’ll get there by 2020 or 2021. Right now we have about 20% international audiences with Americans and Japanese being top 2.

Music Today: Is the Easter Festival broadcasted on TV or online? If so, could you tell us what the business model is like, and whether that consists of the festival’s financial resources?

Peter Ruzicka: The premiere is always televised and available on DVD. For instance, Die Walküre will come out in December as DVD. It’s a spectacular DVD and will be sold all over the world by Universal. Every year we televise the Easter Festival twice after postproduction and some small corrections. Financially we don’t rely on it too much.

Music Today: Can you talk about your latest music projects? Is there any new compositions you’re working on or ensembles you’re working with?

Peter Ruzicka: I’ve completed my third opera Benjamin. It is about a German philosopher who passed away in 1940, prosecuted by the Nazis. This will be premiered on June 3 next year at Hamburg Stage Opera, conducted by myself. I’m going to Hong Kong in early December to work with Hong Kong Philharmonic, which is performing here now, and to Shanghai in February for the first performance of Mahler Symphony No.10, the 5-movement version. This piece has fragments and needs a lot of preparation. I’m looking forward to this event and always very proud to make a first performance. This will be the first time the 5-movement version being performed in China and also in Asia. Two years ago I had the pleasure to conduct the Gurrelieder by Schoenburg with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra as part of the BMF.

Music Today: How do you think of the BMF?

Peter Ruzicka: It’s growing and growing, and now it’s the most important festival in the eastern hemisphere. Long Yu is doing a fantastic job. He’s well connected and bringing the best artists here. We’re very all very glad to collaborate with him.

Music Today: What’s your opinion on last night’s Die Walküre?

Peter Ruzicka: It was something outstanding! They were very very good singers, and surprisingly, the cooperation with the Hong Kong Phil went so well. They made a CD of Die Walküre two years ago, so they have experience with the field of repertoire. Their conductor Jaap van Sweden is now one of the most important conductors in the world. He is taking over the New York Philharmonic next year. His collaboration with the orchestra and the entire opera production is absolutely ideal. Although it was a very long performance from 6:30 to 11:40 or 50, people were screaming! Last night was an enormous success.