(Credit: Bernhard Muller)

The Salzburg Festival’s president Helga Rabl-Stadler will leave her post at the end of this year’s festival.

Rabl-Stadler was set to leave her post in 2020 but due to the pandemic, the festival decided to extend her leadership for one year.

Prior to becoming president of the Salzburg Festival, she was the Vice President of the Salzburg Chamber of Commerce and the President and Financial Advisor of the Salzburg Chamber of Commerce, overseeing 250 employees. However, when she was elected in 1995, Rabl-Stadler renounced all her political and representational positions in Salzburg and Vienna.

In 2001 her contract at the festival was renewed until 2006 followed by subsequent renewals in 2004, 2009, and 2013. In 2016 she was confirmed as Festival President until 2020 by a unanimous vote of the Festival’s Supervisory Board.

During her time at the festival, Radl-Stadler has obtained a successful development of a network of sponsors including the current main sponsors –  Audi, Siemens, Kühne-Stiftung, Rolex and BWT. She has also obtained numerous project sponsors as well as the acquisition of patrons. The high point of her successful fundraising efforts was the financing of the Haus für Mozart.