Bayreuth Festival (Richard Wagner-Festspiele)
The Bayreuth Festival is the most famous festival in the world. Here only Richard Wagner's music dramas are performed.
The Richard Wagner Festival in Bayreuth was opened in 1876 with three performances of the complete Ring. It took six years before the next Festival could take place. In 1882 only Parsifal was played (16 performances).
How to get tickets for the Bayreuth Festival
Stefan Herheim's Parsifal production
Bayreuth singers who started as a member of the chorus
In 1951 the Festival reopened after the war. Wieland and Wolfgang Wagner were joint leaders until Wieland's death in 1966. Since then Wolfgang Wagner has been artistic supervisor and leader of the Festival.
Recommended reading
Frederic Spotts: Bayreuth - a History of the Wagner Festival
Said about the Bayreuth Festival
Sir Adrian Boult (1912)
Graham Clark on performing in Bayreuth
Eduard Hanslick, 1876: "a major
artistic undertaking belongs in a major city"
Andrew Shore on Bayreuth
Sebastian Weigle on conducting at the Bayreuth
Festival
Wolfgang Wagner on the Festival House
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Satellite photo of the Festspielhaus
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