8 Best Performing Arts in Innsbruck, Tirol, and Vorarlberg, Austria

The big cultural event in Bregenz is the Bregenzer Festspiele, held mid-July to late August, with the main stage a huge floating platform on the lake. For information and tickets, contact the festival office. Tickets are also available at the Bregenz tourist office. In the event of rain, the concert performance is moved indoors to the massive Festival Hall and Congress Center adjacent to the floating stage (it can accommodate at least 1,800 of the 6,800 seats usually available for performances on the floating lake stage).

Bregenz is pleasant at any time of year, but a great time to visit is during the Bregenzer Festspiele (Bregenz Music Festival) in July and August. Acclaimed artists from around the world perform operas, operettas, and musical comedies on the festival's floating stage, part of the Festspiel und Kongresshaus (Festival Hall and Congress Center) complex. In front of the stage, the orchestra pit is built on a jetty, while the audience of 6,800 is safely accommodated on the 30-tier amphitheater on dry land—a unique and memorable setting for a concert. Reserve your tickets and hotels in advance, as performances and rooms sell out early. In the event of rain, the concert performance is moved indoors to the adjacent Festspielhaus.

Between mid-July and late August, the Festival of Early Music highlights music from the 14th to 18th centuries, performed by many of Europe's finest musicians in such dramatic settings as Innsbruck's beautiful Schloss Ambras and the Hofkirche. In summer there are frequent brass-band (Musikkapelle) concerts in the Old Town. During the Renaissance and in the Baroque era, Innsbruck was one of Europe's most important centers for music, and this is the oldest existing festival to celebrate such early music.

The original congress house was built by Archduke Leopold V in 1629 as the first freestanding opera house north of the Alps, and in the 19th century it was converted into the Dogana, or customs house. Destroyed during World War II, its remains were used to create this modern congress and events center in 1973. Concerts take place in the modern Saal Tirol.

The world's premiere dance companies have been visiting Innsbruck between the last week in June and mid-July for this international dance festival since 1992. The world-renowned Dance Theatre of Harlem and the Sao Paulo Dance Company, as well as Maracana, Brazil's Grupo Corpo, and Sankai Juku, all feature regularly. Visitors can join in dance workshops, too. Tickets are available through the tourist office or the festival office.

Constructed in 1838 as a grain storehouse, back when Bregenz was still an important commercial hub, this listed building was converted into a 700-seat theater in 1954. Today, it is part of the Vorarlberg Landestheater, showing a roster of contemporary and classic plays, along with many family-friendly productions and live music concerts.

Innsbruck's principal theater is said to be the world's oldest German-speaking theater. It was built in 1654 as the court opera house, but totally renovated in the classical style in 1846 and modernized and extended in the 1960s. Both operas and operettas are presented in the main hall, usually starting at 7:30 pm; plays and dance in the Kammerspiele start at 8 pm. Obtain tickets at the box office or at the city's main tourist office.