Cultural cooperation between Vienna and Los Angeles has been flourishing since the early 1920s when émigrés from Austria contributed to the Los Angeles creative scene of literature, theater, film and music. Max Reinhardt, Billy Wilder, Hedy Lamarr and others became Hollywood legends while composer Arnold Schoenberg revolutionized modern music. As in other areas of artistic endeavor, L.A. bears the imprint of Austrian influence in the field of architecture. Led by the renowned architect Rudolph Schindler, Austrian avant garde ideas of design and architecture can be found throughout the L.A. urban landscape where they set standards for future generations to follow.

Influenced by his Viennese background, Washington, D.C. real estate developer Anthony Lanier has created an urban environment with all the amenities of a city’s community life. Within a period of fifteen years, he and his colleagues at EastBanc revitalized the historic district of Georgetown, turning it into a modern and welcoming landscape. In an interview with Austrian Information he speaks about the beginnings of his career, the challenges of urban revitalization and projects for the future.

Maintaining the Outstanding Tradition
by Peter Pabisch

Now in its fifty-third season, the Santa Fe Opera has seldom omitted Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart from its program during the summer series. This year is no exception with the performances of The Marriage of Figaro, under conductors Kenneth Montgomery and Robert Tweten. Don Giovanni under the opera house’s chief conductor Edo de Waart is scheduled for 2009. Since Mozart is performed repeatedly, it led us to suggest in an article written for Austrian Information (Nov/Dec 2006) that Santa Fe seemed to be modeled after Salzburg. In an interview some ten years ago with the now deceased founder and chief conductor John Crosby, he insisted that his opera house was not designed after the summer events of Salzburg but those of Bayreuth, where Richard Wagner’s operas are performed during a month-long festival. He did admit, however, that the variety of programs in Santa Fe was similar to programs scheduled in Mozart’s birth place and only rarely was Richard Wagner a chosen composer.

It is very hard to believe that five years have passed since my husband and I arrived here in Washington, and that the time to say good-bye has come so very quickly! Although changes, departures, comings and goings are very much an integral part of our profession, one never fully gets used to it – after all, one integrates into an other country, into an other way of life, one forms friendships and connections, and it is never easy to leave all that behind. This is particularly true in our case: I have spent altogether eleven years in the US, my husband even sixteen. This is a long time and an intense experience, which has shaped and influenced us in many different ways. Leaving and knowing that we will come back as visitors, but never with the same professional exposure, is difficult. On the other side, the ties that bind us to this country,  the relationships we have formed are very strong and enduring and they will not fade away.

(1918 - 2008)

Former U.S. Ambassador to Austria from 1990 to 1993, legendary oilman and philanthropist Roy Huffington died July 11 in Venice at the age of 90 while traveling abroad.
Born in Tomball, Texas, Huffington grew up early in the absence of his father who accidentally died working in the oil fields, and learned at a very early age to be resourceful. After earning his Ph.D. in geology from Harvard in the 1940s, he served three years as a naval officer during WW II. Following a decade working as a field geologist, he began exploring oil beds and discovered huge reserves of natural gas in Indonesia. Rather than demanding ownership of the reserves, he shared the revenues; rather than hoard expertise and technology, he shared them. His approach, thus, allowed Indonesians to run their own fields. Discoveries in East Kalimantan led to the development of a multi-billion dollar export project between Indonesia and Japan.
Over the ensuing years he built his company, Huffco, into a very successful international energy company. He eventually sold the firm and devoted himself to philanthropy, travel, public service and published numerous articles on geology in scientific journals.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Austrian Airlines. Its very first flight left Vienna for London in 1958 and was soon followed by scheduled services to other major European cities.