Wagner sisters end feud cycle for 99th Bayreuth festival

London, UK

Classical Music News for 2010-07-31

Not so long ago they were siblings at war. Now the great-granddaughters of Richard Wagner have put their feud behind them because they have a show to roll out, and the world's music critics are watching closely. The first Wagner festival to take place under the sole direction of its new chiefs, Katharina Wagner and her half-sister Eva Wagner-Pasquier, opens this Sunday. Wagner watchers are focusing on whether the sisters will seize the chance to modernise the 134-year-old festival and finally turn Germany's most important classical music event into a cultural tour de force of the 21st century or whether they will be held back by the weighty force of Bayreuth traditionalists. Until two years ago the sisters – born to their late father Wolfgang Wagner's second and first wives respectively – were at the heart of what was described as the longest-running cultural feud of modern times over who should take over from their ailing father. But the siblings finally buried the hatchet in 2008 and agreed to manage the event together. Their father died last year, opening the way for a new era. (The Guardian)

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