{"id":14275,"date":"2026-09-14T23:28:39","date_gmt":"2026-09-14T21:28:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.salzburgeradventsingen.at\/uncategorized\/2026-die-hirtenkinder-des-salzburger-adventsingens-proben-auf-der-loferer-alm\/"},"modified":"2026-09-17T08:50:22","modified_gmt":"2026-09-17T06:50:22","slug":"2026-die-hirtenkinder-des-salzburger-adventsingens-proben-auf-der-loferer-alm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.salzburgeradventsingen.at\/en\/shepherd-children\/2026-die-hirtenkinder-des-salzburger-adventsingens-proben-auf-der-loferer-alm\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 The shepherd children of the Salzburg Advent Singing rehearse on the Loferer Alm."},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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With passion<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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25 Years of Shepherd Days on the Loferer Alm<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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Where Children Become \u201cHiatamadln\u201d and \u201cHiatabuam\u201d<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Four days of life on the mountain pasture, making music together, rehearsing scenes and spending plenty of time as a group: the rehearsal days on the Loferer Alm have long been an integral part of the Salzburg Advent Singing for its young shepherds. In 2026, they held particular significance. For 25 years now, the Soderkaser mountain hut has been the place where the \u201cHiatamadln\u201d and \u201cHiatabuam\u201d come together a few months before the performances. In the anniversary year of the Salzburg Advent Singing, two important milestones coincided: 80 years of the Salzburg Advent Singing and 25 years of Shepherd Days on the Loferer Alm.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The story began in 2002. Hans K\u00f6hl, artistic director of the Salzburg Advent Singing, was looking for a secluded mountain hut where focused rehearsals would be possible while also giving the children a genuine experience of life on an alpine pasture. At his very first meeting with Georg D\u00fcrnberger, known as \u201cSoder Schurl\u201d, plans were quickly put into action and the young shepherds and their team were invited to the newly built Soderkaser on the Loferer Alm. Georg and Marianne D\u00fcrnberger were enthusiastic supporters from the very beginning. Eversince, the young shepherds have made their way up to the mountain pasture each year shortly before the start of school. Once the cows and calves have left the Soderkaser, the\u201cHiatabuam\u201d and \u201cHiatamadln\u201d take over the hut and stable for a few days. What began as an idea developed into a tradition, and over the years the close bond with the Soderbauer family grew into a friendship. Today, the traditional farm is run by their daughter Martina and her husband, with the support of the entire family. This year, the 25th anniversary was marked by a special tribute from Hans K\u00f6hl to the hosts of the Soderkaser \u2013 an expression of deep appreciation for a quarter of a century of hospitality and shared experiences.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Four Days in Which a Community Takes Shape<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The days on the mountain are intensive. For four days, theatre director Gerda Gratzer and Edwin Hochmuth, who plays Rabbi Jakob, work with the children on their stage performance. This year marks Hochmuth\u2019s tenth time accompanying the Shepherd Days, while Gratzer has been part of the Salzburg Advent Singing for five years.
What is particularly striking is how quickly the children come together as a group. \u201cWe arrive on the mountain pasture, assign the roles \u2013 and by the very next day, everything is in place,\u201d says Gerda Gratzer. What makes the experience so special, she explains, is the harmony among the children: no envy, but plenty of joy and mutual support. The surroundings of the Loferer Alm are far more than a beautiful backdrop. The wide-open landscape provides ideal conditions for the children to practise speaking loudly and clearly; after all, only a few months later their voices will need to carry through the vast auditoriumof the Gro\u00dfes Festspielhaus. At the same time, the children experience much of what they will later portray on stage. The stable, animals, hay and daily life on the mountain pasture become a direct part of their experience for several days. Even during rehearsals, the children wear their costumes. Step by step, the different elements come together until what audiences see on stage during Advent appears entirely natural.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Natural, Colourful and Making Use of What Is Already There<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The costumes of the young shepherds are also created with a particular focus on natural materials and sustainability. In 2026, costume designer Brigitte Schiebler is using colourful harem trousers made from old linen. Existing materials are reused, recombined and given new life. The young shepherds perform barefoot. The strong colours of their costumes will be further accentuated by the lighting in the Gro\u00dfes Festspielhaus. The result is a visual language that is both simple and expressive, shaping the world of the young shepherds in this year\u2019s production, \u201cThe Great Mystery\u201d.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Music That Grows on the Mountain<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Musically, this year\u2019s performances also place considerable demands on the young participants. The shepherd children are preparing four pieces for the anniversary year. These include a special version of \u201cSilent Night\u201d from the Flachgau region, the \u201cGr\u00f6diger Walzer\u201dand an \u201cAberseer mit Schleunigem\u201d. Two longstanding members of the team who have been part of the Shepherd Days on the Loferer Alm from the very beginning are Gudrun K\u00f6hl-Korbuly and Markus Helminger. Their expertise ranges from looking after the children to their musical preparation, and for many years they have been affectionately known and appreciated as the \u201cHirtenmutter\u201d and
\u201cHirtenvater\u201d \u2013 the shepherds\u2019 mother and father. For Elena Seywald, who joined the team two years ago, this is precisely what makes the days together so rewarding: the children learn new skills on their instruments and grow through the musical challenges they encounter. On the mountain, there is time for this process. Pieces are repeated, explored and learned together until individual voices and instruments gradually become one shared sound.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The Young Shepherds and 80 Years of the Salzburg Advent Singing<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The history of the young shepherds reaches back almost as far as that of the Salzburg Advent Singing itself. In the 1950 performances, three \u201cSternsinger-Kinder\u201d \u2013 young carol singers \u2013 appeared for the first time. The first group of shepherds followed in 1951, and in 1952 the first Salzburg shepherd play by Tobi Reiser was performed. Over the decades, both the names and the composition of the groups changed.\u201cHirtenspielbuben\u201d became \u201cHirtenbuben\u201d, while at times additional young shepherd singers joined the ensemble. In 1990, Kathi Herbst became the first girl to join the shepherd group. Since then, \u201cHiatamadln\u201d and \u201cHiatabuam\u201d alike have been part of the community. Around 400 children have contributed music, singing and stage performances over the decades. Many of them still carry the memories of this special time with them today.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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\u201cIn the Middle of Paradise\u201d<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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The anniversary year makes particularly clear how closely the Shepherd Days are linked with personal memories. For Gudrun K\u00f6hl-Korbuly, the days together have long been a matter close to her heart.\u201cIt feels like being part of a family up here, right in the middle of paradise. The nights are short, and there is always plenty going on. \u201dThe fact that this year\u2019s Shepherd Days also herald a farewell brings a sense of wistfulness. Above all, however, there is gratitude for all those who have made this special tradition possible over the past 25 years.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Salzburg shepherd children<\/h4>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Four days of life on the mountain pasture, making music together, rehearsing scenes and spending plenty of time as a group: the rehearsal days on the Loferer Alm have long been an integral part of the Salzburg Advent Singing for its young shepherds. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":14273,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[150,149],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-history","category-shepherd-children"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.salzburgeradventsingen.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.salzburgeradventsingen.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.salzburgeradventsingen.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.salzburgeradventsingen.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.salzburgeradventsingen.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14275"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.salzburgeradventsingen.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14371,"href":"https:\/\/www.salzburgeradventsingen.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14275\/revisions\/14371"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.salzburgeradventsingen.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.salzburgeradventsingen.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.salzburgeradventsingen.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.salzburgeradventsingen.at\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}