What makes the Salzburg Marionette Theatre different from other theatres? – On the stage, the marionettes are the protagonists, and the people are behind – or rather, above it all. Because, while down on the stage these finely-crafted marionettes perform plays, fairy-tales, musicals and operas, it's the skilled puppeteers two metres above them who guide all their movements with a special technique, each on 12 strings. The puppeteers, who have mastered this unique method, bring the marionettes to miraculous life.
This special performance technique, has been declared a cultural asset worthy of preservation, as the "most highly developed form of puppet and figure theatre", earning the Salzburg Marionette Theatre a place in the UNESCO List of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
On 30 April 2026, the painter and sculptor Georg Baselitz passed away at the age of 88. Over the past three years, his final major theatre production was created in collaboration with the Salzburg Marionette Theatre. Baselitz’s marionettes and stage designs for Igor Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale, developed as a co-production with the Salzburg Festival 2025, marked a groundbreaking milestone in the theatre’s 113-year history. Never before had a prominent contemporary artist created the design for a new production. Baselitz’s undiminished creativity and boundless curiosity for working with string marionettes resulted in archaic, entirely novel marionettes of striking expressiveness, along with stage designs of compelling simplicity. The childlike joy with which Georg Baselitz took part in the creation, rehearsals, and performances will remain a lasting memory for the ensemble. The forthcoming tour in the autumn of this year will, fortunately, present The Soldier’s Tale to a far wider audience and make Baselitz’s innovative artistic vision visible. The Salzburg Marionette Theatre looks back on this formative collaboration with gratitude.
The successful co-production with the Salzburg Festival is back: Matthias Bundschuh’s production of Stravinsky’s "The Soldier’s Tale", designed by the German artist Georg Baselitz, will go on tour in autumn 2026. Once again, the performances will feature Dominique Horwitz as narrator and a chamber ensemble led by violinist Isabelle Faust. Some of the performances will be presented in French.
For decades, the Salzburg Marionette Theatre has been a cherished guest in Japan. As early as 1958, the ensemble appeared with The Magic Flute at the first Osaka Festival, followed by performances in Tokyo. Further successful tours took place in 1992, 1995, 1998, 2002 and 2004.
After more than twenty years, the theatre has now returned to Japan, presenting itself as a vibrant institution within Salzburg’s cultural scene at the World Exposition EXPO 2025 in Osaka.