Belgian cultural figure Peter De Caluwe has been named artistic director of the Salzburger Festspiele, starting with the 2027 season.
De Caluwe was artistic director for La Monnaie, the world-renowned Brussels opera house, from 2007 to 2025. To join the Salzburger Festspiele, he will have to step down from his current role of spearheading Leuven’s preparation for European cultural capital in 2030.
The Festspiele is one of the most prestigious international performing arts festivals, held annually in Salzburg, Austria, and showcases classical music, Opera, and theatre performances. De Caluwe’s appointment is not the only wind of change for the festival: it is renewing and rebuilding, and the Belgian sees it as an opportunity to explore new ways of engaging with the audience.
“I am interested in encounters between generations and artistic genres, between different aesthetic languages, between artists and their audience, as well as with people who have yet to discover the Festival,” De Caluwe has said.
Promising words for a respected director stepping into a festival deeply rooted in Salzburg. He wants to surprise and touch people and open new perspectives for them.
Congratulations to Peter De Caluwe on this major new role.
