2 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).

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.