Salzburg wound reopens as star director lashes out

Salzburg wound reopens as star director lashes out Operanorman lebrecht August 06, 2026The programme booklet for Messiaen’s opera Sant Francois d’Assise contained an interview with its director Romeo Castellucci. It concludes with this statement:To end this interview I need to clarify one thing: Without Markus Hinterhäuser I would never have dreamed of this work and never been able to implement it. The production of ‘Saint François d’Assise’ is, in a sense, orphaned and had to do without the presence of the man who desired it and championed it — a victim of the arrogance of a petty political system that wants to clip the wings of culture without possessing the necessary cultural understanding to comprehend the consequences. Hinterhäuser was terminated this summer as artistic director by a cabal of local dignitaries, suffused with local dignity. He remains the elephant in the room for the rest of this festival, and beyond.