Wagner festival opens in wake of Germany attacks

Germany’s legendary Bayreuth opera festival, dedicated to the works of Richard Wagner, opened on Monday with extremely tight security in the wake of a series of deadly attacks in the country. “We have to send a message” that fear will not stop the festival, film actor Michaela May told the DPA news agency at the event.

Out of respect for those killed or wounded in attacks over the last week in Ansbach, Munich and Wuerzburg — all in the state of Bavaria — organisers cancelled the lavish banquet that traditionally follows the first performance of the festival. Also cancelled was the usual red carpet procession.

The 140-year-old festival, one of the highlights of Germany’s social and cultural calendar, opened with a performance of Wagner’s final opera, Parsifal in a brand new production by German director Uwe Eric Laufenberg.

Inside the theatre, a message projected on the curtain said,”The Bayreuth festival dedicates today’s performance to all victims of the violent acts in recent days and to their loved ones.”

The month-long festival opened the day after a man set off a bomb near another music festival in the southern town of Ansbach — just an hour’s train ride from Bayreuth — killing himself and wounding 15 people.

Tighter security on Bayreuth’s Green Hill — on which the world-famo-us Festspielhaus festival theatre stands — has been in place since the start of rehearsals in June.

Town authorities called for stepped-up measures following suggestions that 2016 production of Parsifal might be perceived as critical of Islam, a charge denied by director Laufenberg.

Unlike past editions of the festival, all bags and cushions have been banned from the auditorium and cloakrooms while patrons have to carry photo ID with them at all times. The approach road up the Green Hill to the Festspielhaus has been blocked to cars.