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The production of Bernd Alois Zimmermann's opera "Die Soldaten" was celebrated as the highlight of the Salzburg Festival 2012. The Vienna Philharmonic performed the work under the baton of Ingo Metzmacher and with an excellent cast at the Salzburg Felsenreitschule. An enormous ensemble of 170 musicians and 50 soloists made this highly complex composition a tangible experience for the audience.
The incredible power of the music and its performance can also be seen in the stage production of the Latvian director Alvis Hermanis. By bringing the play onto a 40-metre-wide stage and using the full height of the room, he manages to present the individual episodes simultaneously, as Zimmermann intended, and thus condenses the plot into an exciting tragedy.
