The 2020 Bayreuth Festival is cancelled but a revamped festival is scheduled

The following notice appeared on the Bayreuth website early in March

In view of the effects of the Corona crisis on the operations of the Bayreuth Festival GmbH, the management and the shareholders of the Bayreuth Festival GmbH -- the Federal Republic of Germany, the Free State of Bavaria, the City of Bayreuth and the Society of the Friends of Bayreuth e.V. -- regret that the Bayreuth Festival 2020 will have to be suspended this summer. This means that the following festival years will have to be rescheduled. In the 2021 season, in addition to the planned new production of "Der fliegende Hollander," the programme will include the revivals of "Tannhäuser, und der Sängerkrieg auf Wartburg," "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg," "Lohengrin," and three concert performances of "Die Walküre." The new production of the Ring of the Nibelung planned for this season will probably not be able to celebrate its premiere until 2022 due to rehearsal planning.

However, the Bayreuth Festival website has announced that a revamped festival will take place this summer. Here are the details:

There will be a live event featuring conductor Christian Thielemann with members of the Festival Orchestral alongside Camilla Nylund and Klaus Florian Vogt.

Performance Date: July 25, 2020

Simon Steen-Andersen will present “The Loop of the Nibelung,” an audiovisual exploration of the Bayreuth Festival Hall featuring music by Wagner with singers and members of the Festival Orchestra. The concert will be streamed on the official website and BR-Klassik Concert page.

Performance / Streaming Date: July 28, 2020

The company will present three different productions of the Ring from 2013, 1988, and 1976. Audiences will get to check out the Castrof version from 2013 on BR-Klassik.

Streaming Date: July 25-28, 2020

Patrice Chéreau and Pierre Boulez’s iconic 1976 “Ring” will be shown on ARD-alpha and BR-Klassikon.

Streaming Date: August 7, 2020

Finally, Kupfer’s 1988 version of the “Cycle” will be presented via 3sat media library, br-klassik.de, and the official Bayreuth Festival website.

Streaming Date: July 25, 2020

In addition to presenting the three Rings, the company will also present a 1958 production of “Lohengrin” by André Cluytens on BR-Klassik.

Streaming Date: July 29, 2020

Herbert von Karajan’s 1952 “Tristan und Isolde” will be broadcast on BR-Klassik.

Streaming Date: July 30, 2020

Additionally, BR-Klassik and the Bayreuth Festival will present videos such as “Opera crash course Wagner, “Classic Shorts,” “The Ring Profiles,” and “Wagner ABCs.”