Richard Wagner Festivals - Bayreuth: 2025 new "Meistersinger" and Thielemann-Comeback
The Bayreuth Festival is bringing on a musical expert for the upcoming season: Director Matthias Davids, artistic leader of the musical division at the Landestheater Linz, will stage a new production of "The Mastersingers of Nuremberg" at the Richard Wagner Festspiele in 2025. "What's going on now?", he thought when festival director Katharina Wagner called him. But he welcomed challenges. "That's a project I can surely be afraid of."
As previously announced, former music director Christian Thielemann is returning to the Festspiele after several years of absence. He will conduct "Lohengrin" with Neo Rauch's set design, which is scheduled for another revival in 2025.
For the jubilee year 2026, when 150 years of festival history will be celebrated, Katharina Wagner plans a small deviation from the strict canon: Wagner's work "Rienzi" is to be performed at the Festspielhaus.
Beyond that, an expansion of the repertoire, as Culture Minister Claudia Roth (Greens) recently suggested, is essentially unthinkable. "That's not possible because it's part of the canon," said Festspielsprecher Hubertus Herrmann. "That's what sets Bayreuth apart."
Roth had brought up the idea of a repertoire expansion for this reason, as even in Bayreuth, the tickets no longer sold themselves. This year, however, the festivals were quite satisfied, speaking of a quasi sold-out house. Only for a "Parsifal" performance in August were there still tickets available.
"Sales in the ticket office are going very well in 2024," said business manager Ulrich Jagels. The festivals were currently doing financially well, Jagels noted, but in the coming years, they would have to rely on reserves because the shareholders had announced they would not increase their contributions.
55 percent of the budget, which Jagels said was last at 28 million euros, the festivals generate themselves, 10 percent comes from the Förderverein der Freunde von Bayreuth, and 35 percent from public funds - from the Federal Government, Free State of Bavaria, and the City of Bayreuth.
The festivals are starting the season with a new production of the opera "Tristan and Isolde" by Icelandic director Thorleifur Örn Arnarsson, who announced a dark interpretation of the love opera: "Tristan lies dying on the rubble of hopes." The musical direction is by conductor Semyon Bychkov. The title roles are sung by Andreas Schager and Camilla Nylund.
Before the official start of the festivals on Thursday, an Open-Air Concert was planned in the park at the foot of the Festspielhaus, conducted by Nathalie Stutzmann, one of the three conductors in Bayreuth this year. For the first time in the history of the festivals, women are in the majority at the podium.
- Katharina Wagner's plans for the 150th anniversary of the Bayreuth Festivals include a performance of Wagner's "Rienzi" at the Festspielhaus, marking a small deviation from the traditional canon.
- Christian Thielemann, the former music director, will return to the Bayreuth Festival in 2025 to conduct "Lohengrin" with Neo Rauch's set design, which has previously been revived at the Richard Wagner Festspiele in Bayreuth, Germany.
- The Bayreuth Festival, located in the beautiful region of Bavaria, relies heavily on ticket sales for 55% of its budget, which was last reported at 28 million euros, with additional funding coming from the Förderverein der Freunde von Bayreuth and public funds from the Federal Government, Free State of Bavaria, and City of Bayreuth.
- In the upcoming season, the Bayreuth Festival is bringing on a musical expert, Matthias Davids, to stage a new production of "The Mastersingers of Nuremberg" at the Richard Wagner Festspiele in 2025.
- The festival's artistic élan continues to showcase innovative productions, as demonstrated by Icelandic director Thorleifur Örn Arnarsson's dark interpretation of "Tristan and Isolde," set for the official start of the festivals in 2024, with musical direction by conductor Semyon Bychkov.
- Beyond Linz, Austria, where he currently serves as the artistic leader of the musical division at the Landestheater Linz, Matthias Davids is eager to face challenges and contribute to the rich tradition of music festivals, specifically at the renowned Bayreuth Festival.
