Event: Austria

Carinthia Summer Festival

When:	11 Jul - 31 Aug 2008 (annual)
Where:	Stiftskirche
Opening Hours:	Selected afternoons & evenings

Every summer for more than 30 years, some of the world's greatest classical music artists have made the journey to the Austrian Lake District for the Carinthia Summer Festival. The main venue is Ossiach's Stiftskirche church.

Previous festivals have welcomed artists such as Leonard Bernstein (who called the baroque Stiftskirche "the most beautiful concert hall of the world"), Montserrat Caballé, José Carreras and Christoph von Dohnányi. The multicultural and open atmosphere of the festival is as impressive as it is unexpected, so far from the cultural centres of Vienna and Salzburg.

The main venue, the Stiftskirche, was restored in the 1960s, and a benefit concert by the legendary pianist Wilhlem Backhaus marked the foundation of the festival, which since then has achieved an international reputation.

For full details of this year's line-up, please visit the festival website.