1946

Staged on two barges - one carrying the set of Mozart's early work Bastien et Bastienne, the other the orcherstra - the first Bregenzer Festwoche took place one year after the second world war. For a town that did not even possess a theatre at that time, the idea of hosting a festival seemed ludicrous. However, the stopgap solution to use the loveliest part of the town - namely Lake Constance - for the stage setup proved to be a huge success. Visitors from Austria, Germany, Switzerland and France soon turned the festival into an international event. From the very beginning on, the Wiener Symphoniker formed the festival's orchestra and ever since have contributed majorly to its development and success.