BERLIN (AP) -- Bayreuth's annual opera festival is kicking off with a new production of Richard Wagner's Tristan and Isolde by the composer's great-granddaughter, festival director Katharina Wagner.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and her husband, Joachim Sauer, were among the guests at Saturday's opening performance in the Bavarian town. Merkel and Sauer are well-known opera fans and have regularly attended the opening show.
The new Tristan and Isolde, conducted by Christian Thielemann, is the second opera Katharina Wagner has directed at Bayreuth and the first since she became co-leader of the festival along with half-sister Eva Wagner-Pasquier in 2008. Wagner-Pasquier will step down after this year's event, leaving the 37-year-old Wagner in sole charge.
This year's festival runs through Aug. 28.
Listen to the full opening night performance here (available for 14 days).
Select Reviews
The Telegraph
"The stakes were high - but Festival director Katharina Wagner's impressive 150th anniversary production of Tristan und Isolde is more than up to scratch, says Mark Ronan"
The New York Times
Cheers, but Modest Impact, for Revisionist ‘Tristan’
DW.com (English)
"If this "Tristan" is seen as the beginning of a trend, then it signals an era of relative calm."
The Guardian
"Radical reimagining marks new chapter for Bayreuth"
