Around the Music Festival

The Bayreuth Festival has announced the dissolution of its permanent choir. Katharina Wagner, general director of the festival, revealed the news at the festival’s closing ceremony.

According to the announcement, members will be selected through auditions every year. Starting at the end of the year, auditions will be held about 10 times throughout Europe, excluding the U.K., and the current members will be asked to attend them again.

A proposal to reduce the choir from 134 to 80 members is being considered this year as part of a budget adjustment, and Eberhard Friedrich, who has been the choir’s director since 2000, resigned just last week in protest, with one year left until his retirement.

Immediately after Friedrich’s resignation, the festival announced that Thomas Eitler-de Lint, chorus director of the Leipzig Staatsoper since 2017, would be his successor. The festival also stated that it has his approval for this restructuring measure.

PHOTO：Bayreuther Festspiele