Reviewer Completes 23-Hour Bayreuth Wagner Marathon as 150th Festival Draws Sellout Crowds
Updated
Updated · The Guardian · Aug 10
Reviewer Completes 23-Hour Bayreuth Wagner Marathon as 150th Festival Draws Sellout Crowds
2 articles · Updated · The Guardian · Aug 10
Summary
Six operas in seven days pushed one critic through nearly 23 hours of Wagner at Bayreuth, where a heatwave, hard seats and strict audience etiquette turned the assignment into an endurance test.
150 years after Wagner launched the festival with the Ring cycle, this summer's tickets sold out in 90 minutes, underscoring Bayreuth's pull despite no air conditioning, no surtitles and a repertoire limited to his works.
Bayreuth's famed covered orchestra pit still delivered the luminous sound devotees prize, but the new 'AI Ring' left the reviewer and some visitors lost, with singers obscured by projections and one American attendee quitting early.
That tension runs through the festival more broadly: world-class music and fiercely loyal audiences coexist with divisive Regietheater stagings, kitschy Wagner branding and an unresolved struggle over accessibility, identity and the composer's troubled legacy.