2023-08-29 17:54:05
Free seats at the “Ring”, all other performances sold out – the Bayreuth Festival takes stock one day after the finale and gives an outlook for the coming year.
Bayreuth.
The internationally acclaimed opera spectacle in Bayreuth not sold out? This summer, it caused a stir that tickets were still available for purchase shortly before the Richard Wagner Festival. Now the festival has presented a balance sheet one day after the last performance of the year.
Accordingly, the occupancy rate for the four-part opera cycle “Der Ring des Nibelungen” was an average of 92 percent. All other productions, i.e. “Parsifal”, “Tristan and Isolde”, “Tannhäuser” and “The Flying Dutchman”, were sold out, the festival announced on Tuesday.
There were a total of 31 performances in the Festspielhaus from July 25 to August 28, and more than 58,000 visitors attended.
The fact that tickets were still available shortly before the start and even during the festival was remarkable, as the opera spectacle had been sold out for decades. Even the tradition of only selling cards for the “Ring” as a package for all parts has been abandoned. For 2024, the festival expects full capacity again, it said.
Next year the festival will start with a new production of “Tristan and Isolde”. On July 25, 2024, Andreas Schager and Camilla Nylund will sing the title roles. Thorleifur Örn Arnarsson will direct and Semyon Bychkov will conduct.
Schager already sang in the opening premiere this year – namely the Parsifal role. Actually, Joseph Calleja was supposed to perform, but he canceled for health reasons. In addition, Schager stepped in as Siegfried for Stephen Gould, who was also ill.
In addition, in 2024 the four “Ring” parts will again be part of the game plan, as well as “Tannhäuser”, “Parsifal” and “The Flying Dutchman”.
After the end of the festival, the question of how the structures of the festival will change is once again in focus: because the Society of Friends of Bayreuth will be able to pay less in future, the Free State of Bavaria has announced that it will take over its share – and the federal government asked to do the same. This would significantly expand state influence in Bayreuth.
And another important question arises: Who will direct the festival in the future? Will a Wagner ruler stay over the hill? Katharina Wagner’s contract runs until 2025. At the moment everything speaks for an extension – but the final decision has not yet been made. (dpa)
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