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Tens of thousands of music lovers braved the freezing cold to kick off this year's 250th anniversary celebration of the birth of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart with three days of festivities.
Organisers announced Monday that some 50,000 people took part in 100 activities -- including outdoor concerts -- starting Friday in Salzburg, where the composer was born two-and-a-half centuries earlier, and in Vienna, where he died in 1791.
Among the most popular events were the inauguration of Mozart's House, the only surviving residence of the composer in the Austrian capital, and an appearance on television of the German tennis star Boris Becker dressed up as Mozart.
Both cities held open-air concerts on Friday, and in Salzburg the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra conducted by Italian Riccard Muti backed a raft of classical music supestars headlined by Italian singer Cecilia Bartoli, who stood in for the American Renee Fleming.
Bartoli appeared on television singing a duet from the Magic Flute with the German television host Thomas Gottschalk.
The town of Linz hosted an eight-hour Mozart marathon. And over 30 countries broadcast concerts performed in cities across the world from Berlin to Beijing in an operation called "24 Hours Mozart."
The celebrations are set to continue throughout the year in Austria, including performances of all 22 of Mozart's operas at the Salzburg Festival.
In Vienna there will be recitals by the pianist Maurizio Pollini, a Mozart exhibition at the Albertina museum, and a show at the Jewish Museum on the relationship of Mozart and his librettist Lorenzo da Ponte.
The American director Peter Sellars is in charge of a festival of contemporary theatre dedicated to Mozart scheduled for November and December.
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AFPEntertainment-music-Mozart-Austria
AFP 301351 GMT 01 06
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