One thing will not appear in the reports on the festival premiere: the usual complaints about high temperatures and stuffy air. When Chancellor (and Wagner enthusiast) Dr. Angela Merkel walked across the rain-soaked red carpet with her husband Joachim Sauer, both carried umbrellas due to the weather. And the other guests were not left out in the rain either: among others came King Carl Gustav XVI and Queen Silvia from Sweden, Horst Seehofer, Minister-President of Bavaria, Prof. Dr. Norbert Lammert, President of the German Bundestag…. The guest list for this year’s opening premiere filled 8 pages – with the names of great artists, leading politicians from all parties represented in the Bundestag, representatives of the city of Bayreuth, and patrons. It won’t have been just because of the bad weather that they, like all other premiere attendees, primarily wanted one thing: to quickly get into the Festspielhaus. Because word had spread that the staging of “Meistersinger von Nürnberg” (Directed by Barrie Kosky) would be incomparably more enjoyable inside than the fickle weather outside.
Here, Art is Paramount…
