VIENNA (dpa) — The province of Styria said on Tuesday [1 March] it will opt
out of the much publicized 'Mozart Year 2006' and declare itself a
"Mozart-free zone".
Huge Austrian tourism and musical plans for the 250th anniversary year of the great composer's birth represent "overkill", said head of Styria's Cultural Service Bernhard Rinner. "We're offering — somewhat pointedly — a Mozart-free zone."
This had been agreed by Styrian cultural managers. The province could do without the hype. "It can be excluded at the present stage of planning that Styria will take part in the Mozart Year 2006, propagated by Austrian Advertising."
While Vienna and Salzburg were "duelling" for Mozart
supremacy, Styria with its capital Graz would offer its guests a different
program. Naturally there would be Mozart at the opera, but the province "will
not join in the Mozart overkill next year."
