It is with great sadness that the Bayreuth Festival has learned of the sudden death of lighting designer Reinhard Traub on September 13, 2025, in Prague. Reinhard Traub was one of the leading figures in his field. After studying graphic design, he began his artistic career in the United States in the mid-1980s as an assistant to Chenault Spence. In Europe, he made his mark as a lighting artist at numerous opera houses—including those in Vienna, Munich, Paris, Rome, London, Copenhagen, and Dresden—as well as at major festivals in Glyndebourne, Salzburg, Aix-en-Provence, and, last but not least, Bayreuth. The productions he accompanied at the Bayreuth Festival with his unmistakable signature style of light and shadow include Tristan und Isolde (2015–2019, director: Katharina Wagner), Lohengrin (2018, director: Yuval Sharon), Tannhäuser (2019–2023, directed by Tobias Kratzer) and Der Ring des Nibelungen (2022, directed by Valentin Schwarz). With a subtle sense of atmosphere and a deep musicality, he always understood lighting as an equal narrative level of musical theater. The death of Reinhard Traub is a painful loss for the international opera world and for Bayreuth. With him, we lose an artist who had a decisive influence on the appearance of our festival. We will honor his memory as a colleague and companion. Our sympathy goes out to his family, his friends, and all those who were close to him.