Hildegard Rütgers 1963. Between 1963 and 1965 she performed at the Salzburg Festival, the part of "Die Vertraute" (Her confidante) in a production of "Elektra" by Richard Strauss, conducted by Herbert von Karajan, alongside Astrid Varnay in the title role, and Martha Mödl, Hildegard Hillebrecht, James King and Eberhard Waechter in leading parts. The production of Mozart's "Die Zauberflöte" at the Salzburg Festival, with Rütgers as the Third Boy, was filmed and released as a made-for-television-movie in 1964. She appeared alongside Walter Kreppel as Sarastro, Roberta Peters as the Queen of the Night, Pilar Lorengar and Waldemar Kmentt as Pamina and Tamino,
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Prague it was only a mixed success at its premiere in Vienna in May 1786. Mozart's opera "The Marriage of Figaro", which premiered in Vienna, was produced in late 1786 in Prague with tremendous success. The reviewer for the Prague newspaper "Oberpostamtzeitung" wrote "No piece (so everyone here asserts) has ever caused such a sensation as the Italian opera "Die Hochzeit des Figaro", which has already been given several times here with unlimited applause." The orchestra and some affiliated music lovers funded a personal visit by Mozart so he could hear the production. Mozart first came to Prague on 11 January