Europe’s big cultural festivals are big business. “Salzburg, the most prestigious, sold its soul a long while back. Nowhere on the tourist itinerary of Europe are you more likely to find over-priced hotels and mediocre restaurants. The old town has become little more than a shopping mall for the exceedingly wealthy. How could Mozart’s birthplace have come to this?” All the more to sympathize with Gerard Mortier’s struggle for artistic integrity. – Financial Times 08/09/00