Opera spectacle: Bayreuth looks at the anniversary year 2026

It is unusual for the sometimes scandalous green hill in Bayreuth that the preparation time for this year’s festival was almost noiseless. And the attention of those responsible also applies to the next year – 150 years of festival must then be celebrated. 150 years of Wagner in the Upper Franconian city, which turns into a center for classical music and opera fans every year for about four weeks.

One day before the start of the season for 2025, Festival chief Katharina Wagner gives details of the anniversary: star conductor Christian Thielemann is to take over the musical direction of the four-part mammoth “The Ring des Nibelungen”. And artificial intelligence (AI) is important: Curator of the project is Marcus Lobbes, director of the Academy for Theater and Digitality at the Theater Dortmund.

According to his words, the AI-generated performance feeds, among other things, from image material from the “Ring” productions previously shown in the festival house-but is not a retelling, emphasizes Lobbes.

Singer Vogt has three roles

The AI is on stage as a “imaging force”, the festival reports. Camilla Nylund is intended as a Brünnhilde. Klaus Florian Vogt – closely connected to Bayreuth for many years – can be seen and heard in three games: as a lodge, Siegmund and Siegfried.

Thielemann will also conduct the ceremony at the start of the anniversary festival, says Wagner. The first festival took place in 1876, Richard Wagner (1813-1883) previously had the Festspielhaus built in Bayreuth.

On August 2 in the coming year, Katharina Wagner will also have a “birthday party” in the house – with a DJ that – of course – will also incorporate Wagner motifs.

The anniversary program should be celebrated according to original plans with all ten Wagner works from the festival canon and with the opera “Rienzi”. For cost reasons, however, the program had to be reduced.

Festival start on Friday

“Rienzi” but remains: The opera is usually not heard in the Festspielhaus, but there should be production for the anniversary under the musical direction of Nathalie Stutzmann. Magdolna Parditka and Alexandra Szemeredy have been hired for staging, stage and costume.

And this year? The “Meistersinger of Nuremberg” in a new production can be seen on Friday. Numerous politicians are expected, at the top, Chancellor Friedrich Merz (CDU) and former Chancellor Angela Merkel – as is well known, a great Wagner fan.

There are even remaining tickets for spontaneous trips to Bayreuth. One is currently not sold out, says the commercial managing director Ulrich Jagels. Especially towards the end of the festival time, for example, cards are still available for “Tristan and Isolde” and “Parsifal”.

For years it was unimaginable for Bayreuth – interested parties had to wait for years that there were still tickets shortly before the start. Those responsible did not comment on possible reasons.

2024 surplus of 2.7 million euros

In the previous year, the festival was sold out according to Jagel’s words. The festival took around 14.3 million euros from the ticket sales. The total budget was around 27.75 million euros. According to Jagels, the festival could achieve an excess of 2.7 million euros.

About 35 percent of the total of public sector grants make up for the public sector. In addition, there is money from Bayreuth’s friends. According to its own statements, the patronage association will contribute around 1.8 million euros to the total budget and also support projects such as the children’s opera, as friends boss Georg von Waldenfels announced.