St. Gallen Festival is back on the monastery square

In recent weeks, a large grandstand and the stage for the opera performance of the St. Gallen Festival have been set up on the monastery square, surrounded by the government building and cathedral. Various rehearsals for the premiere of "Tosca" on June 20 have also already taken place there.

For director Marcos Darbyshire, the popular opera with the story of the singer Floria Tosca, who wants to rescue her lover from the clutches of the brutal police chief Scarpia, is "a perfect mix between a political thriller, an Italian melodrama and a Greek tragedy", as it says in the announcement before the premiere.

At the often spectacular open-air performances on Klosterplatz, only the ensemble and singers are present on stage - as is now the case for "Tosca". The music is played live by the orchestra in the theater and transmitted to the sound system via a fiber optic cable.

Anniversary gift

In the 20-year history of the St. Gallen Festival, almost forgotten or rarely performed operas have been performed time and again. In 2023, for example, it was "Andrea Chénier" by Umberto Giordano and last year "The Fairy Queen" by Henry Purcell.

However, the choice of "Tosca" was not a change of strategy, Keystone-SDA was assured on request. "Rather, we wanted to give ourselves and the audience a present for the anniversary with a really big name."

After some back and forth, the future of the festival now seems to have been clarified for the next few years. Following a decision by the St. Gallen government that the Klosterplatz will only be available every two years, alternating performances were initially planned in the Flumserberge.

Play in open-air arena

However, the first attempt to stage "The Fairy Queen" at an altitude of 1,400 meters on the Tannenbodenalp ended in disappointment. There was a lot of bad weather and not enough audience interest overall. As a result, no excursions will be organized in future. If the monastery square is not available, the performances will take place in the theater.

The festival also includes other genres: The play "Kalter weißer Mann", a comedy about the gender star, has been performed in the open-air arena near the theater building since June 12.