WIENER MOZARTJAHR 2006 - this is not farewell? 
  Peter Marboe, Artistic Director, WIENER MOZARTJAHR 2006

Every year is a Mozart year. That is why no official “opening” to the Vienna Mozart Year 2006 was held on 1 January, and it was all the more reason not to hold any kind of pompous concluding festivity on 31 December. How on earth could one “conclude” a Mozart year? The fact that “perhaps the greatest genius in the entire history of mankind” (Wolfgang Hildesheimer) lived here in Vienna for ten years and created many of his most glorious works during that time is cause for rejoicing. But we were convinced and determined, right from the beginning, that WIENER MOZARTJAHR 2006 should not and would not be limited to isolated, unreflecting celebrations of the 250th anniversary of Wolfgang Amadé’s birth, but that it was going to be a new attempt to approach the “miracle” of Mozart (Goethe) from many different angles and in many different ways, and at the same time, with his help, to reflect upon many different questions - particularly, of course, the significance of music in our society. More ...