Dark history still haunts Bayreuth Festival
Katharina Wagner and Eva Wagner-Pasquier debut as directors at this year's Wagner Festival in Bayreuth, opening on July 25. They're out to brighten up a festival that has a rather dark past.
The winds have changed in Bayreuth - and this new wind is conspicuously tall, blond and good-looking. Thirty-one-year-old Katharina Wagner, great-granddaughter of the composer Richard Wagner, has taken over from her father Wolfgang after his more than half-century reign as festival director.
Once again, the Green Hill will stage a great show - even before the curtain opens. Every year, the arrival of the rich, famous and powerful is the true highlight of opening night.
But Bayreuth's celebrity opera-goers don't just add to the luster of it all - they are also representative of the dilemma that the festival finds itself in. After all, prior to the Second World War, Bayreuth's most prominent guest was Adolf Hitler. He was a passionate Wagnerian and good friend of the Wagner family.
Hitler connection casts long shadow...
Read entire article at Deutsche Welle
The winds have changed in Bayreuth - and this new wind is conspicuously tall, blond and good-looking. Thirty-one-year-old Katharina Wagner, great-granddaughter of the composer Richard Wagner, has taken over from her father Wolfgang after his more than half-century reign as festival director.
Once again, the Green Hill will stage a great show - even before the curtain opens. Every year, the arrival of the rich, famous and powerful is the true highlight of opening night.
But Bayreuth's celebrity opera-goers don't just add to the luster of it all - they are also representative of the dilemma that the festival finds itself in. After all, prior to the Second World War, Bayreuth's most prominent guest was Adolf Hitler. He was a passionate Wagnerian and good friend of the Wagner family.
Hitler connection casts long shadow...