Festspiele Stockerau - Schedule, Program & Tickets

On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the town's elevation in 1963, theater was performed for the first time on the square in front of the baroque parish church in Stockerau: Otto Kroneder initiated the performance of the drama "Gajus Gracchus" by Stockerau poet Bruno Kühnl (1897-1961).

Due to the great interest, seven further productions were staged under Otto Kroneder's directorship from 1964 onwards. This year is therefore regarded as the actual beginning of regular festival activity. After Kronder's tragic death, Jürgen Wilke was in charge of the Stockerau Festival for 27 years. During this time, numerous Shakespeare performances were staged, as well as G. B. Shaw's "Heroes", to name but a few.

Alfons Haider was artistic director from 1998. With him, the musical found its way onto the stage in front of the parish church. With "A Chorus Line" in 2012, a brilliant final chord was set under the musical era.

Zeno Stanek took over the directorship in the 2013 season and returned to spoken theater with the critically acclaimed production of "The Visit of the Old Lady" by Friedrich Dürrenmatt with Anne Bennent in the leading role. Not only did he increasingly involve the festival city and its inhabitants in the program, he also supplemented the theater program with the sophisticated music bar querfeld1 with the big summer night concerts on the festival stage and a series of concerts by professional up-and-coming groups with free admission in various restaurants in the city.

The new concept was continued in the anniversary year 2014 (50 years of the festival) with the promising stage version of "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" and was well received by an enthusiastic audience, accompanied by aperitif concerts by young talents and prominent summer night concerts on the festival stage.

With "Don Camillo and Peppone", the Stockerau Festival fully established itself as a spoken theater festival in Lower Austria in 2015 with 24 sold-out performances. Even the baroque town parish church opened its doors for aperitif concerts and the festival stage for top-class summer night programs.

Director Zeno Stanek was able to draw a more than gratifying conclusion in view of the excellent capacity utilization figures in 2016: With "The Servant of Two Masters" (Carlo Goldoni) and a colorful supporting program at a high artistic level, the Stockerau Festival proved to be a fixed and important component of cultural diversity in Lower Austria.

Most recently, the festival production LUMPAZI Vagabundus provided everyone with a successful season in the summer of 2017. The contemporary adaptation of the classic from the old Viennese folk theater was very well received, with Nestroy's satirical and wicked humor also coming across vividly thanks to contemporary couplet texts.

Subject to change without notice.