What successfully began last year will continue in 2018 with a diverse programme: DISKURS BAYREUTH – an important facet of the Bayreuth Festival’s supporting program.
In addition to the premiere of Klaus Lang’s opera “der verschwundene hochzeiter” on July 24, 2018, which has already been extensively announced and is central to this year’s festival program, DISKURS BAYREUTH includes further events whose programmatic focus is the discursive reflection and listening on the theme of “Prohibitions (in) Art”.
Under this title, a symposium will take place from August 3 to 5, 2018. In “Haus Wahnfried”, Richard Wagner’s former home and workplace, renowned artists, scientists, publicists, and politicians will gather to controversially discuss aspects of prohibition, the forbidden, and forbidding in lectures and discussions. Participants will include Gerhart Baum, Detlef Brandenburg, Thea Dorn, Paul Esterhazy, Bernd Feuchtner, Ute Frevert, Eugen Gomringer, Lucian Hölscher, Lydia Jeschke, Klaus Lang, Charlotte Seither, Hans R. Vaget, and Feridun Zaimoglu.
What is allowed, what is forbidden in art? Where are the limits of artistic freedom? In times of new iconoclasm and speech bans, such questions touch highly sensitive areas.
The two new productions of Bayreuth Festival 2018 tell stories of prohibitions: Lohengrin must not be asked for his name. The prohibition of questioning forms the core of Richard Wagner’s plot. In “der verschwundene hochzeiter”, Klaus Lang takes up an old legend of a man who gets lost in time. He may only dance as long as the music plays. Prohibitions in fairy tales are a vehicle for moral education – Wagner’s “Lohengrin” and Lang’s “hochzeiter” perish from the breaking of a promise.
“Diskurs Bayreuth” asks about prohibitions (in) art – with regard to political and social dimensions, asks about censorship, taboo, and ideological dictatorship. However, it also concerns the rules and limits within art. What role do its immanent laws play in artistic decision-making? Are freedom and individuality even possible without limits?
The programme of the three thematically related concerts on July 30, August 4 and 5, will accordingly feature “Unheard” works, as they deal with “forbidden music”. Members of the Festival Orchestra, mezzo-soprano Sophie Rennert, and pianists Florian Hölscher and Jendrik Springer will perform.
Detailed program information
…for the symposium
…for the concerts
The symposium and the three concerts are held in cooperation with the Richard Wagner Museum Bayreuth.