Salzburg Festival Director Won’t Quit After All

Gerard Mortier, the director of the Salzburg Festival, has changed his mind about quitting this summer, a year before his contract expires, the Vienna daily Der Standard has reported.

Mortier announced the change of heart in an interview to be published today. It was carried in part Tuesday by the Austria Press Agency.

The director of what is one of the world’s most prestigious music and stage festivals was quoted as saying that he consulted numerous cultural figures before making his decision to stay on. They included French philosopher Bernard-Henri Levy, former French Culture Minister Jack Lang and conductor Pierre Boulez.

In a recent interview with Associated Press in Salzburg, Mortier said he was quitting because he distrusts Joerg Haider’s far-right Freedom Party, which now shares the Austrian government with Chancellor Wolfgang Schuessel’s conservative People’s Party.

He also said he has received unpleasant mail from Austrians since announcing his resignation.

“Go to Chechnya,” advised one writer on the back of a postcard. Another writer filled more than a page with anti-Semitic rantings before telling the director, “Go to Israel.”

In the Der Standard interview, Mortier rejected claims that he wanted to quit early to work in Berlin and because of budgetary problems.

Because of Calendar’s earlier printing deadlines, the information in this report could not be included today in a story that begins on F2.