The works have been co-commissioned by Lincoln Center, the Barbican Centre, the Berlin Philharmonic, and other organizations, and will be seen around the world in subsequent seasons.

The festival will not include any of Mozart's music. Instead, it will explore the ideas contained within The Magic Flute, La clemenza di Tito, and the Requiem.

"At the end of this Mozart Year," Sellars said, "when everybody will have told their Mozart-story, eaten their Mozart cakes, suffer from a bad stomach, and had quite enough, we want to create something here in Vienna that is more than just a dessert, that has real nutrients, that gets things moving and opens new paths."

Highlights include Adams' one-act opera A Flower Tree, based on a South Indian folk tale. Sellars will direct; Adams will conduct the Sim‹n Bolivar Symphony of Venezuela.

Sellars will also direct La Passion de Simone, a new music-theater work by Kaija Saariaho, with a libretto by Amin Maalouf. Soprano Dawn Upshaw will will appear with the Arnold Schoenberg Choir and Klangforum Wien.