The Board of Trustees of the Salzburg Festival is prepared to prematurely terminate the contract with Controller Markus Hinterhauser, who has held this position for ten years. They will make the final decision on March 20th. After Marina Davydova, the festival’s former program director, told Meduza about Hinterhauser’s working style and confirmed that he had been unable to find her successor, the trustees demanded that the search be resumed. Now they were unhappy that the quartermaster had chosen a favorite bypassing procedure and accused him of unacceptable behaviour. Nobel laureates and other celebrities have already defended Hinterhauser. We tell you how this conflict developed.
In November 2024, theater curator Marina Davydova was preparing to give a press conference in which she would talk about the dramatic program of the 2025 Salzburg Festival. She had just finished her first season as program director of this theater forum – one of the most respected forums in Europe – and had already drawn up a poster for the second season.
However, Davydova was unable to present it to reporters. A few days before the press conference, the festival’s controller (i.e. the artistic director and director), the famous pianist Markus Hinterhauser, fired her, accusing her of breach of contract. The fact is that at the same time as she was working in Salzburg, Davydova was working as a consultant for the Berlin Voice Festival. She herself claims that she did not receive a salary from Aswat when she was program director of the Salzburg Festival.
Davydova signed a contract with the Salzburg Festival at the end of 2022, shortly after being forced into exile: at the beginning of the mass invasion, she published an anti-war petition, after which she was subjected to threats (including the letter Z drawn on her apartment door).
In Salzburg, it was scheduled to form a drama program for three seasons: in 2024, 2025 and 2026. Hinterhauser, who has chaired the forum since 2016 and has been responsible for its various programs since 1993, initially spoke of Davydova with great respect. “The festival’s drama department will receive a new impetus for development.” to talk He assured her of his position.
Traditionally, the dramatic program is not the Salzburg Festival’s strong point; Today it is known primarily as the Music and Opera Forum. Davydova tried to redress this balance: she invited to participate world-famous directors working in an aesthetic unusual for German-speaking theatre, such as the Polish master Christian Luba (who staged The Magic Mountain in Salzburg based on Thomas Mann’s novel).
After Davydova was fired, she filed a lawsuit against her former employer. In December 2024 Cool down Pretrial settlement agreement. Its details are unknown, but the curator was satisfied with it. European society and the press largely supported Davydova in her struggle with the festival. Hinterhauser fought for his reputation – even suing Backstage Classical’s publisher, journalist Axel Brueggemann, a particularly consistent critic of his (who, according to the Observer, discredited his honor in his articles). court unacceptable This lawsuit is scheduled for March 2025.
Before Hinterhauser fired Davydova, she managed to prepare a drama program for the 2025 festival, which was eventually shown. The festival’s announcement included, for example, Kirill Serebrennikov’s play “The Blizzard” – based on the story of Vladimir Sorokin – with “Master and Margarita” star August Diehl in the role of Dr. Garin.
Hinterhauser chose to draw up the drama program for 2026 himself: he never chose anyone to replace Davydova.
In October 2025, Davydova publicly accused Hinterhauser of inappropriate behavior in an interview with Meduza. She said: “He needed a dramatic director who would stand humble in light of his fame, and I was not good at that.” — Honestly, it was hard for me to believe that in the middle of Europe in 2024, after all the MeToo waves, I would meet a caterer yelling at a woman. At some point, when I left the office, I realized that my hands were shaking, even though I’m a fairly sedentary person overall.
In the interview, Davydova drew attention, among other things, to the fact that she still does not have a successor in the festival team: “My place is still vacant, which is amazing and surprising in itself. Usually they immediately announce a competition to fill this position.”
This material has been retold by several Austrian media outlets. Mayor of Salzburg Bernhard Oinger And the governor Carolina EdtstadlerRepresentatives of local authorities at the festival said they were taking the allegations seriously and promised to look into the situation. Chair of the Board of Trustees Theresia Niedermüller commented on the interview, saying: maleHe and his colleagues will insist on finding a new director for the drama program.
Soon the festival will really happen Announce Competition for this position; The quartermaster was responsible for its implementation. In December, 23 people applied for it; By the end of January, seven candidates remained. Among them is Hinterhauser Supported Karen Bergmann, who headed the Burgmann Theater in Vienna from 2014 to 2019. “This is my dear friend who has made a decisive contribution to the performing arts,” the controller said of her.
However, in February, it emerged that Bergman had not entered the competition from the start: Hinterhauser included her in one of the seven most likely candidates, bypassing the proceedings. This finally led to a quarrel between the superintendent and the trustees.
Governor Edtstadler February 3 maleThat the trustees issued Hinterhauser a “yellow card.” “To put on a festival of this size, you need a relationship of trust [между интендантом и попечителями]She said. These relationships have been undermined, including by media reports.” Mayor Oenger also commented on the incident, saying: “Strong candidates apply for the competition, and the controller supports someone who has not even gone through the selection procedure. “I find this unacceptable.”
Media February 20 Distributed A call from famous cultural figures to support Hinterhäuser. It is signed by Austrian Nobel Prize winners in Literature – Elfried Jelinek and Peter Handke, Oscar and Palme d’Or winning director Michael Haneke, pianist Igor Levitt, conductor Ingo Metzmacher, folk rock singer Hubert von Goisern, artist Erwin Wurm and many others. The authors of the letter called on the Board of Trustees not to interfere in “technical matters” because Hinterhauser is “an outstanding leader.”
Trustees planned to question Hinterhaeuser about the competition at the Feb. 26 board meeting. However, their conversation turned into a quarrel. The superintendent insisted he broke no rules when he backed Karen Bergman in the running for the director’s position — and demanded that the mayor and governor publicly apologize to him for their statements to the media. discussion continued Five o’clock.
As a result, the Board of Trustees AnnounceSpecifically, Hinterhäuser violated the “appropriate conduct requirement.” Included In his contract. by words Governor Edtstadler will have to leave office as early as September 2026 (under the terms of the current agreement, he must lead the festival until at least 2029). However, Hinterhauser can keep his position – if he agrees to some unknown conditions expressed to him by the trustees. The superintendent will meet with the trustees on March 20; It is at this meeting that his future in this position will finally be decided.
Austrian Minister of Culture Andreas Babler Supported Festival Trustees: “For me, justice and mutual respect are important conditions for cultural work. The Board of Trustees seems to believe that Hinterhauser did not meet this condition.”
“Authoritarian artistic directors and violent directors have long been considered the norm.” He writes Cultural columnist for the Austrian newspaper Falter Stefanie Banzenbock in an article about Hinterhauser’s conflict with the trustees. “Their inability to control themselves was linked to their genius. After all, art flourishes when it is able to go beyond the limits of the norm. This behavior was part of the game, or at least something that was tolerated.” <…> However, the number of jobs in the cultural field is limited, especially those such as that of Salzburg Festival Superintendent. “It is very possible to find someone for this position who meets all the leadership criteria in 2026.”