With Hermann Aicher’s return from the war, the Salzburg Marionette Theatre started performing again for the occupying American, British and French military forces. In 1947, the troupe marked its first German language performances in Paris. The company toured extensively throughout the 1950s and in 1950 the company began to use recorded sound for performances, instead of live actors and musicians. The troupe began its first tour of the United States in 1952 under a five-year contract. International touring became a permanent feature of the company, in addition to regular performances in Salzburg. The Salzburg Marionette Theatre had performed in a variety of venues until 1971 when the company acquired its own theatre in the former ballroom of the Mirabell Hotel. The first production there was Rossini’s Barber of Seville. For the sixtieth anniversary of the founding, two years later, the company and its unique work was the subject of a documentary film. In 1977, the driving force behind the Salzburg Marionette Theatre, Hermann Aicher died. Artistic control passed to Gretl Aicher. To mark the seventieth birthday of Gretl Aicher and the eighty-fifth anniversary of the Salzburg Marionette Theatre, a special exhibition of marionettes opened at the Salzburg Hohensalzburg Fortress. Since that time, the company has continued to tour and perform in its own theatre with an ever increasing repertoire of productions featuring not just the works of Mozart, but also many other famous composers such as Johann Strauss and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. The company revived its production of Bastien and Bastienne in 2007 and premiered a new production of The Sound of Music, directed by Richard Hamburger. Salzburg was home of the Von Trapp family and was featured heavily in the 1965 film production of the same name starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer.

PROGRAMMES THE NUTCRACKER, Peter I. Tschaikowsky Duration: 1 hour 45 minutes/1 hour (short version) Recording: DECCA London Orchestre de la Suisse Romande Conductor: Ernst Ansermet Direction: Klaus Gmeiner Choreography: Leonard Salaz Scenography: Günther Schneider-Siemssen Costumes: Marie-Luise Walek   MAGIC FLUTE, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (in German with subtitles in several languages) Duration: 2 hours/1 hour (short version) Recording: Deutsche Grammophon RIAS-Symphonie-Orchester Conductor: Ferenc Fricsay Performers: Josef Greindl, Rita Streich, Maria Stader, Ernst Häfliger, Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau … Direction: Géza Rech Scenography: Günther Schneider-Siemssen Costumes: Friedl Aicher   THE LITTLE PRINCE, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry Duration: 1 hour Subtitles in English Directed by Alexandra Liedtke Puppets and costumes: Lane Schäfer Stage design: Raimund Orfeo Voigt   Technical details: Minimum space required for portable stage: Width: 14.60 m Depth: 10.80 m Height: 4.50 m 3-phase connection (3 x 220 V oder 3 x 380 V), 63 Amp Detailed technical requirements on request übermittelt. Staff: 11–14 persons Transport weight/volume: Approx. 3.5t/23 m³ for the first programme; additional programmes approx. 0.5t/4 m³ each (updated on 17 Aug, 2015)