Catherine is back at beautiful Lake Constance, and there is music in the air! It is the time of the Bregenz Festival, an outstanding annual cultural event in western Austria that attracts thousands of musical connoisseurs and tourists from all over Europe and the world.

What makes the Festival so special is the fact that it boasts the largest lake stage in the world, with Lake Constance providing a unique backdrop and atmosphere for the evening performances during magnificent sunsets over the water. As night folds in and the music rises under the stars, there is just no other place that one wants be right now.

Nigh on 7,000 visitors will come each night during July and August and follow the enduring and ultimately tragic love of “Madama Butterfly” with Giacomo Puccini’s score played by the Vienna Symphonic Orchestra.

The Festival has taken place in an uninterrupted sequence since 1946, and it was only in the year 2020—the year we had planned our Solari “Lake Constance Hang”—that it was canceled for p(l)andemic reasons.

This year we are back, and we invite you to join us through our music of the week as Maria Callas sings one of the most popular arias in the history of opera—Un bel dì, vedremo!

One fine day we'll notice
a thread of smoke arising
on the sea, in the far horizon,
and then the ship appearing…

Related:

See some of the previous production sets from the archive of the Bregenzer Festspiele and learn more about its history from the Festival Homepage.

Get a virtual tour of this year’s stage on the lake.