The Bayreuth Festival begins
The Bayreuth Festival is starting today with a new production of Richard Wagner's opera "The Master-Singers of Nuremberg". Friedrich Merz is expected to attend the opening performance.
Bayreuth (dpa/d.de) – The Bayreuth Festival is starting today with a new production of Richard Wagner's opera "The Master-Singers of Nuremberg" staged by the musical expert Matthias Davids. The production is conducted by Daniele Gatti.
"We hope that it will be a good festival without any health-related cancellations," said Festival Director Katharina Wagner. She didn't want to tell any spoilers but promised that the Master-Singers would be very entertaining, and that there would be a lot to see on the festival grounds.
Some high-profile politicians are expected to attend the premiere performance, too: among others, Federal Chancellor Friedrich Merz announced that he would be there, while the former Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel is among the festival's regulars.
The Bayreuth Festival that is also known as the Richard Wagner Festival, is a musical theatre festival that is dedicated exclusively to Richard Wagner's (1813–1883) operas. The festival has been held since 1876 with some interruptions, and every year since 1951, at the Bayreuth Festival Theatre which was designed by the composer in cooperation with the architect Otto Brückwald for this very purpose and is located on the hill Grüner Hügel in Bayreuth. The festival usually lasts from 25 July until the end of August.
The video livestream of the premiere performance will be shown in the ARD Mediathek.