OPUS ARTE and BF MEDIEN conclude long-term cooperation
BF Medien GmbH has secured an exclusive label partner for the media exploitation of Bayreuth Festival productions: Opus Arte, the multimedia production and distribution company of the Royal Opera House Covent Garden London, will in the future – subject to the transfer of rights by the participating artists – be responsible for exclusive, high-quality exploitation of selected Bayreuth productions on CD, DVD, Blu-ray, and TV. The first product expected to be released in early November is the complete Thielemann Ring – recorded in summer 2008 by BF Medien and United Motion – in a 14-CD box set. In addition, Opus Arte will release Marthaler’s “Tristan und Isolde” and a new edition of “Meistersinger von Nürnberg” with corresponding subtitles and – especially for the American market – on Blu-ray.
The partnership was presented this morning at a press conference in the presence of Festival Director Katharina Wagner and the new Managing Director of Opus Arte, Roland Ott. It is initially set to run until 2014/15 and will include the exploitation of the following productions: Walküre 2010 [Dorst/Thielemann], Lohengrin 2011 [Neuenfels/Nelsons], Tannhäuser 2012 [Baumgarten/Hengelbrock], Der Ring des Nibelungen 2013 [N.N./N.N.], Der fliegende Holländer 2014 [Nübling/Thielemann], Tristan und Isolde 2015 [Wagner/Thielemann].
Tony Hall, Chairman of Opus Arte and Chief Executive of the Royal Opera House: “I think this is a very exciting, long-term partnership between Opus Arte, the Royal Opera House, and the Bayreuth Festival. Roland Ott and I want to make the best opera and ballet productions accessible to a worldwide audience. The fact that Bayreuth Festival is now also one of our cooperation partners is a great asset. I am very much looking forward to the Thielemann Ring and many more exciting DVD productions.”
Katharina Wagner was looking forward to the cooperation now beginning: “I am very happy that – after long discussions with numerous major labels and thorough review of them – we have now found a partner in Mr. Ott and Opus Arte who not only offers the necessary quality and fits perfectly with us in terms of overall orientation and their own standards, but is also willing to enter into a long-term collaboration with us and thus also with our high-quality and exclusive cooperation partners such as the film production company United Motion in Berlin, for example. Only with partners like Opus Arte can we act in a future-oriented and sustainable manner in the spirit of Bayreuth Festival.”
Further information:
BF Medien GmbH
Alexander Busche
Marketing and Artistic Project Management
Tel: +49 921 78 77 96 40
Mob: +49 178 28 72 431
abusche@bfmedien.com
www.bfmedien.de