Breaking: Bayreuth puts tickets online
mainIn a bid to break down exclusivity and the traditional ten-year wait, tickets to one-third of next summer’s performances are being put online from October 13 for everyone to buy. We hope there are no strings attached. Don’t all rush at once.
Read the information here (auf Deutsch).
Let us know if there’s a problem.
Here’s the full info and terms in English – good luck!
http://tickets.bayreuther-festspiele.de/en/info
They must be desperate to sell tickets for the abominable Ring production.
Looking at the idiotic productions that are now a feature of this festival I shall not be joining the rush!
the conductor Ivan Fischer mentions Bayreuth at several points in this immensely informative talk on the composer. What a wonderful educator this man is:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjxfHCWJdnI
Yes, don’t all rush at once 🙂 The one and only time I went, our own Andrew Shore sang everyone off the stage in Gotterdammerung in 2008 or 2009 🙂
Götterdämmerung is Alberich’s shortest appearance. You’re not thinking of Rheingold or Siegfried, are you? In any case, Tankred Dorst’s Ring was vapid. Shame, as the musical side was good.
My German is pretty lousy, but here is what Bayreuth has announced (in less than perfect English!)
“The Bayreuth Festival intends to simplify the purchase of its coveted tickets.
For next year’s Festival, from this Sunday (October 13 ) for the first time, one third of the performances may be purchased directly, on-line, without the usual years of waiting.
Most credit and debit cards are acceptable.
The balance due must be paid using the on-line payment system; print your own tickets.
It is emphasised that everyone has the same chance.
The Festival begins on 25 July 2014 with a performance of ‘Tannhäuser’ and ends one month later. Eleven performances are to be offered exclusively online – the four ‘Ring’ operas will be classed as one ticket.”
It has more to do with the fact the Bundesrechnungshof has ruled that Bayreuth must make its tickets more readily available outside of the famed nine-year waiting list. We (the employees) have also been offered the option of buying a total of up to four tickets each for selected performances. Since Wolfgang Wagner’s passing, management has had to align itself with Bavarian, Federal German and European law. This has meant revisions in the stagehands’ working conditions (don’t worry; they’ll never make $400k despite the INCREDIBLE work they have to do, and that is absolutely no joke…), and chorus members’ salaries over the last few years.
As a little aside, if the Bayreuth stagehands earned $400k pa I wouldn’t begrudge them a penny. The work they do is incredible, as is the speed at which they do it. Here’s an example. At 10pm one evening, I left the theatre seeing this:
http://img.welt.de/img/kultur/crop118433063/7178729817-ci3x2l-w620/GERMANY-ENTERTAINMENT-MUSIC-OPERA-BAYREUTH.jpg
and this:
http://img.welt.de/img/buehne-konzert/crop118302234/1568726714-ci3x2l-w620/zgbdc5-6azi3dwkembyxhize1e-original.jpg
It’s on a revolve, so you play all four sides. At 10am the NEXT morning, I saw this:
http://www.br.de/radio/br-klassik/themen/walkuere-2013-bayreuther-festspiele-110~_v-image512_-6a0b0d9618fb94fd9ee05a84a1099a13ec9d3321.jpg?version=aa095
and this:
http://parterre.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/wpid-Photo-Aug-24-2013-504-AM.jpg
You really have to see the sets in person to appreciate how impressive and complex they are. The Bayreuth stagehands pull this particular feat off daily with seven productions, seven days a weeks for months, not to mention setting up more basic versions of all these sets on the rehearsal stages. and don’t earn a fraction of Carnegie Hall’s chair pushers.
So Jeff, if you’re reading this: if your ‘highly-skilled’ Carnegie Hall stagehands are worth $400k pa, then these guys are worth $5,000,000. And I, for one, wouldn’t begrudge them a penny of it.
Don’t all rush at once.
They did. Sold out in 90 minutes. Sour cream with that humble pie, anyone?