Leading opera festival to have woman conductor for first time in history
22 September 2020, 14:23 | Updated: 22 September 2020, 17:31
Great news – Bayreuth opera festival will welcome a female conductor to its podium for the first time ever.
Oksana Lyniv will make history at next year’s world-renowned Bayreuth Festival, becoming the first woman to occupy the pit.
The Ukrainian conductor will lead a production of Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman, festival director Katharina Wagner announced in an interview with German newspaper Welt.
The director, who is the great-granddaughter of Richard Wagner, only recently recovered from a pulmonary embolism which left her in a coma for weeks.
The 19th-century German composer founded the annual festival, which is completely dedicated to his operas.
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Lyniv, who will open the Bavaria festival’s 2021 season, is currently principal conductor of the Graz Opera.
She was also the first woman to conduct a Wagner opera at the Gran Teatre del Liceu – and, seemingly, in all of Spain.
The Bayreuth Festival’s 2021 season will include productions of Lohengrin, The Mastersingers of Nuremberg and Tannhauser. No date has yet been announced for the production of his monumental Ring Cycle.
