Bayreuth Festival marks 150th anniversary with Beethoven's Ninth

The Bayreuth Festival is marking its founding anniversary with a ceremony and a performance of Beethoven, as the world-famous opera festival celebrates 150 years since composer Richard Wagner (1813-83) staged it for the first time.

There will be no opera production to open the festival on Saturday evening. Instead, the orchestra will perform Beethoven's Ninth Symphony under the baton of conductor Christian Thielemann.

The symphony was also played at the laying of the foundation stone of the Bayreuth Festival Theatre on May 22, 1872 - conducted on that occasion by Wagner himself at the Margravial Opera House.

Wagner's great-granddaughter Nike Wagner, who served for many years as director of the Kunstfest Weimar arts festival and the Beethovenfest Bonn, plans to deliver the keynote address.

As is traditional, the city of Bayreuth will roll out the red carpet for prominent guests at the festival's opening - this year Chancellor Friedrich Merz is again expected to attend. 

Former chancellor Angela Merkel, a devotee of Wagner's work, has also confirmed her attendance, the city said, as have Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt and Research Minister Dorothee Bär. Bavarian Premier Markus Söder, former Greens leader Ricarda Lang and Baden-Württemberg Premier Cem Özdemir have also accepted their invitations.

The season's first new production will then premiere on Sunday - Wagner's early work "Rienzi" will be performed at the Festival Theatre for the very first time.