Overview

• Chancellor Friedrich Merz and his wife Charlotte have formally accepted invitations to the Richard Wagner Festival’s opening ceremony in Bayreuth.
• This year’s season will launch with a newly mounted production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg on July 25.
• The German federal government and the Free State of Bavaria continue to serve as the festival’s primary financiers.
• Merz’s decision breaks with his predecessor Olaf Scholz, who never visited Bayreuth as chancellor.
• Angela Merkel was a frequent guest during her tenure, and Merz previously attended the festival in the early 2000s as CDU parliamentary leader.