Salzburg festival tickets in high demand

The tickets for this year's Salzburg festival beginning on July 19 are in high demand with 88 percent already sold, faster than in last year. Of the 260,000 total tickets 140,000 were in the 5 to 100 euros price range, which Helga Rabl-Stadler, the festival president, said on Friday were the first to be sold out. The sales mean the budget for the festival has been covered, all tickets sold now earning the organizers a profit, Rabl-Stadler told the Austria Press Agency. Tickets for concerts and drama are particularly popular, and such performances as the new production of "Jedermann" which has been performed at the festival since the 1920s. Tickedts for Johann Nestroy's "Lumpaci the Vagabond," Haydn's "The Creation" conducted by Nikolaus Harnoncourt, and "Shomyo and Gregorian Chants" featuring Buddhist monks from Japan have been all sold out. The festival also include a children and youth program, Rabl-Stadler said, saying the "Young Singers Project" will present easily understandable version of Mozart operas "The Magic Flute" and "The Abduction from the Seraglio." The festival will feature a total of around 280 events at 14 venues, and will end on September 1.