The managing director of the Bayreuth Festival, Ulrich Jagels, has defended the higher prices for the opera tickets this year. The decision was not easy, he said on Monday at the traditional press conference before the start of the festival. But it was right to pass on “at least part of the inflation-related costs”. Otherwise the program would have had to be cut, said Jagels: “A waiver would have required extensive cost-cutting measures in the program area.”
Festival director Katharina Wagner had publicly criticized the price increases of six percent this year and emphasized that she had warned against it.
Surprisingly, there were still tickets available for the traditionally sold-out festival this year right before the start. “We still had tickets available for the “Ring” here,” said Jagels about the four-part work by Richard Wagner, which is currently being staged in Bayreuth in a controversial production by director Valentin Schwarz.
Buying behavior has changed
“The demand to buy the complete cycle was not high enough,” said Jagels. This is why tickets for the four operas are even being sold individually this year. “The purchasing behavior on the part of the public is different,” said Jagels. That applies to operas everywhere – and that “is also reflected in the festival”.
With the “opening” of the “Ring des Nibelungen” the festival had gained many new customers, emphasized Jagels. That’s why the festival considered selling “Das Rheingold”, “Die Walküre”, “Siegfried” and “Götterdämmerung” individually in the future. Regarding the prices, he promised “that they will not rise in the coming year, that’s for sure”.
The Bayreuth Festival starts this Tuesday with a new production of “Parsifal” in an augmented reality version. Virtual elements complement what is happening on stage. These become visible with special AR glasses, of which there are only 330 for almost 2000 viewers.
Jagels also defended this decision and spoke of a “high financial outlay”. You first had to see how great the audience interest in the glasses, which are available for around $1,000, was. He promised that there could be more glasses in the coming year.
In 2026, 150 years of Bayreuth will be celebrated
Director Wagner also presented an outlook for the coming years: In 2024 there will be a new production of “Tristan und Isolde” at the festival, directed by Thorleifur Örn Arnarsson and conducted by Semyon Bychkov. And in 2025 a new production of the “Meistersinger von Nürnberg” will celebrate its premiere on the Green Hill. Director is Matthias Davids, conductor Daniele Gatti.
In 2026, 150 years of the Bayreuth Festival will be celebrated in a big way. On this occasion, not only the ten works by Richard Wagner (1813-1883) that normally belong to the festival canon will be performed, but also the opera “Rienzi”.
Festival director Katharina Wagner said on Monday that she had discussed this with the family and the board of trustees. “Rienzi” was first performed in Dresden in 1842 and is not normally part of the Bayreuth repertoire.
