The opening concert of the Salzburg Festival for many regarded as the world s most renowned music festival is by tradition a high-profile event and the 2011 gala presented here was one of the best in memory. Pierre Boulez the grand seigneur of subtle minimalism and exquisitely beguiling sounds (Der Standard) assembled a cast of tremendous distinction to join the Vienna Philharmonic for this prestigious concert conceived as a tribute to Gustav Mahler: Dorothea Roschmann Anna Larsson Johan Botha and rising star Anna Prohaska. After two works by Mahler s pupil Alban Berg featuring Roschmann and Prohaska the main event of the concert if Mahler s large-scale cantata Das klagende Lied - a great spectral opera for the mind s eye (Vienna Zeitung).