Tailor-made Holidays for Music Lovers from C and H Travel Ltd
Baden and Morbisch Operetta Festivals
More About Baden, Morbisch, the Operetta Festivals and nearby places of interest...
Baden Town Centre
Baden town centre is mostly pedestrianised. The elegant streets are lined with a wide variety of quality shops, cafes, restaurants and bars. Don't miss the wine taverns where you can sample wines from the local vineyards. There are several parks and gardens including the sensational Rosarium and the beautiful Kur Park.
Baden is home to one of the largest casinos in Europe offering an extensive selection of games plus cafe bars and restaurants in elegant surroundings. Visitors are welcome to enjoy the glamour and glitter without any obligation to play!
For relaxation, recreation, health and beauty treatments Baden offers a wide selection of options including the former Roman Baths housed in a beautiful building designed by the architects of the Vienna State Opera House. The magnificent Art-Deco Lido even has a beach of real sand!
Other sports and leisure opportunities include countless paths through the Vienna Woods for walking, cycling or riding; hot air balloon flights; horse racing and 10 golf courses in and around the town.
Music is very much part of everyday life in Austria. Opera, Operetta and Classical Music remain hugely popular, attracting large audiences. This ensures that musical standards remain extremely high, performed on a scale that is very often no longer viable in the UK.
The Operetta Festivals at Baden and Morbisch are fully professional. They engage top soloists, they have large choruses and dedicated ballet troupes, all accompanied by superb full-scale orchestras. The festival productions are beautifully costumed and presented.
The Baden Operetta Festival marks the highlight of the musical year. Each year three operettas are staged in the "Summer Arena" featuring famous artistes from the world of operetta. The Festival is extremely popular with most performances selling out well in advance. The "Summer Arena" is a traditional style theatre dating from 1906. The building has a unique feature that makes it a perfect venue for beautiful warm summer evenings - the roof is made up of sliding glass panels that can be rolled back so that the auditorium is open to the stars!
For Summer 2008 the main Festival Productions will be announced shortly.
The 24 piece Kur Orchestra performs free open air concerts of light classical music, including operetta selections, in the beautiful Kur Park 3 or 4 days a week throughout the summer (weather permitting).
Nearby places of interest include:
Heiligenkreuz Abbey Laxenburg Castle Eisenstadt
- The exhuberant "fairy-tale" Gothic castle at Laxenburg, set in the middle of a lake in a large park containing woodland, grottos and temples. The young Emperor Franz Josef and Empress Elisabeth ("Sissi") spent their honeymoon here.
- The beautiful Cistercian Abbey at Heiligenkreuz dating from 1135.
- Europe's largest underground water grotto, which is visited by boat.
- The convent church and museum at Mayerling. This is on the site where Crown Prince Rudolf and his mistress Baroness Mary Vetsera were found dead in 1889. It is thought that they committed suicide but the cause of their death remains shrouded in mystery.
- The delightful town of Eisenstadt and the magnificent Esterhazy Palace and Gardens. Regular daytime concerts are held in the beautiful "Haydn Hall" in the Palace. Josef Haydn resided in the town for 40 years, whilst employed as Court Composer to the Princes of Esterhazy. His former residence is open to the public as a a museum.
- The picturesque wine growing village of Gumpoldskirchen.
- The attractive town of Modling, near Vienna with its mediaeval buildings and large parish church.
- Vienna can be quickly and easily reached by bus, train or tram. Perhaps the most enjoyable route is to take a tram from the centre of Baden direct to the magnificent Vienna State Opera House, where you can take a tour of the Opera House (including backstage), then visit the Opera House Shop and relax over a coffee at the Opera House Cafe. Just across the road is a music shop that stocks an astounding range of CDs, DVDs and videos - a real Aladdins Cave of music!
It is very easy to get around by bus or train. Public transport is cheap, efficient and clean.
Esterhazy Palace and Gardens Haydn's House
The Lakeside Operetta Festival at Morbisch
The picturesque village of Morbisch is situated on Lake Neusiedl. The world's greatest Operetta Festival takes place on one of the most beautiful open air stages in Europe, right on the edge of the lake. The Festival has been held here annually for over 50 years. The open air auditorium seats more than 6,000 people. Each row is raked so that everyone has an excellent view of the stage, the lake beyond and the Hungarian countryside in the distance. More than 220,000 people attend the Festival every year.
The sound and lighting equipment is state of the art, using the latest technology. The sets and costumes are absolutely breathtaking. The exceptionally high artistic standard in all areas has made the Lakeside Operetta Festival at Morbisch into an internationally recognised event and a must for all operetta fans - an Operetta Mecca!
Whilst in the Morbisch area look out for the storks that nest on the chimneys of the houses!
For Summer 2008 there will be a lavish and spectacular production of:
"The White Horse Inn" - Music by Ralph Benatzky and Robert Stolz
"The White Horse Inn" (German Title - "Im weißen Rößl") is an operetta set in the picturesque Salzkammergut region of Upper Austria. It is about the head waiter of the White Horse Inn in St. Wolfgang who is desperately in love with the owner of the Inn, a resolute young woman who at first only has eyes for one of her regular guests.
The show enjoyed huge successes both on Broadway and in the West End (651 performances at the Coliseum starting April 8, 1931) and was filmed several times. Today "The White Horse Inn" is mainly remembered for its songs, many of which have become popular classics.