Overview

• Matthias Davids’s staging turns Die Meistersinger into a festival-themed comedy complete with Eurovision-style contests, an inflatable cow and AI-generated Wagner imagery.
• Daniele Gatti’s vibrant conducting and performances by Georg Zeppenfeld and Michael Nagy prompted thunderous ovations alongside occasional boos in keeping with Bayreuth’s vocal audience tradition.
• Chancellor Friedrich Merz occupied the main box and former Chancellor Angela Merkel sat in the second tier at the opening night, underscoring the festival’s cultural prestige.
• Bayreuth is deepening its historical reckoning through exhibitions on Jewish musicians persecuted under Nazism and caricatures that critique Wagner’s political and musical legacy.
• Organizers announced that Christian Thielemann will direct a 2026 Ring cycle featuring AI-driven scenography by Marcus Lobbes to attract new audiences.