The board of directors of the Bayreuth Festival defends the cost-cutting measures planned for the anniversary year 2026. And explains why cultural sponsorship is currently a challenging topic.
Bayreuth.
The board of directors of the Bayreuth Festival is behind the cuts to the 2026 anniversary program. Everyone knows that public budgets are currently under great strain. The festival cannot turn a blind eye to this, said head of the commission Georg von Waldenfels. And as far as price increases are concerned, it is up to the festival management to test all expenses.
There is no money for enterprising plans
“We support it,” Waldenfels said of the decision announced Thursday to significantly reduce plans for 2026. He assured: The program will do justice to the anniversary occasion.
the world-famous opera show will turn 150 years old – it should actually be celebrated with all the works of Richard Wagner (1813-1883) that are part of the standard Bayreuth repertoire – plus the early opera “Rienzi”.A total of eleven works should appear in the anniversary programme. But there is not enough money for these ambitious plans. The festival wrote on Thursday regarding an adjustment: “The current cost progress poses great challenges to the Bayreuth Festival.”
Sponsorship? The economy is doing badly
When there are constraints of austerity in the culture, there are often calls for more corporate sponsorship.Waldenfels said that the topic is very important for the Bayreuth Festival and that “contacts are maintained”. Though: Due to the current economic crisis in Germany it is indeed “exceptionally difficult” to attract companies to sponsorship activities. The prerequisite for cultural sponsorship is that the economy is growing and stable.
In 2026, only seven operas will be scheduled in Bayreuth rather of the eleven planned. There will be a new production of “Rienzi”, as well as revivals of the operas “The Flying Dutchman” and “Parsifal” as well as a “special Ring of the Nibelung”, as festival spokesman hubertus Herrmann said on Thursday – without giving details. (dpa)
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