In this film, the first to tell the story of this remarkable Festival, set in the birthplace of Mozart, director Tony Palmer has been granted unprecedented access to Austria's film archives.

Highlights include performances of Jedermann from 1920 to the present day featuring actors such as Maximilian Schell and Klaus Maria Brandauer; Don Giovanni (with Furtwängler in 1954 and a controversial performance directed by Peter Sellars in the 1990s); a wealth of footage of Herbert von Karajan, including performances never-before-seen home movies; and footage of the Nazi hierarchy at the Festival during the Second World War.

Alongside this historical footage the film interviews current stars including Plácido Domingo, Valery Gergiev, Lang Lang, Anna Netrebko, Riccardo Muti and Simon Rattle, who tell their stories and open their hearts about this unique Festival.