MAHLER FESTIVAL: Mahler and Klimt at Lake Attersee

With an attractive combined ticket, the Gustav Mahler Festival Steinbach invites you to an extraordinary cultural day trip to Lake Attersee: Two guided art and cultural events as well as an evening film screening combine the worlds of Gustav Klimt and Gustav Mahler to create a harmonious overall experience. There is plenty of time for a relaxed lunch between the program items - the surrounding area offers a wide range of culinary delights.

The day begins at the Klimt Center in Schörfling with a guided tour about the inspiring role of nature for Klimt and Mahler, continues to Villa Paulick, a key location of the Attersee summer resort around 1900, which is rarely open to the public, and ends in the afternoon at the Miniplex cinema in Seewalchen with the internationally acclaimed documentary film "What the Universe Tells Me" about Mahler's Third Symphony - including a discussion with the filmmaker, Jason Starr.

For all those who want to experience art history, music and landscape - relaxed, inspiring and in one of the most beautiful places in the Salzkammergut.

The guided tours can only be booked as a combined ticket together with the movie.

Detailed program:

11:00 a.m., Gustav Klimt Center, Schörfling am Attersee
Guided tour
"Klimt, Mahler and art from nature"
Evelyn Obermaier, Chairwoman of the Klimt am Attersee Association

It is no coincidence of history that in the space of just over a decade, two of Austria's greatest creative geniuses found inspiration for some of their most important works on the shores of Lake Attersee. Summer tourism was on the rise and city dwellers increasingly sought the fresh air and beauty of the countryside within easy reach of the capital. This lecture looks at how Mahler and Klimt found their way here and the role nature played during their working vacation.

16:00, Miniplex Kino Seewalchen
Film screening
"What the Universe Tells Me: Unraveling the Mysteries of Mahler's Third Symphony"
English with German subtitles

Followed by an interview with filmmaker Jason Starr

Music, philosophy and dramatic imagery combine to create an all-encompassing experience in this profound exploration of Gustav Mahler's moving and questioning Third Symphony: How did we get here? What is the meaning of our lives? Does God exist? Why do people suffer?

Mahler's Third Symphony, which explores these questions, is one of the greatest and most ambitious symphonies ever composed. The emotional tension of this work rises steadily, from the chaos of creation in the first movement to the "highest level from which the world can be seen" in the last movement. It involves the audience in the drama of emerging consciousness, which unfolds and develops from the world of rocks, plants and animals through "all stages of development" until it finally reaches its highest flowering in man's ability to love.

From the volcanoes of the South Pacific to the Alpine peaks and meadows where Mahler composed, dramatic images from nature characterize the evolutionary saga of the Third Symphony.

Narrated by Oscar nominee and Emmy award winner Stockard Channing.


10th Gustav Mahler Festival in Steinbach am Attersee: The 3rd Symphony
The Gustav Mahler Festival 2026 in Steinbach am Attersee takes place from June 21 to 28, 2026 and revolves around the composer's third symphony.
Further information: www.mahler.steinbach.at