Bayreuth Festival decides on austerity plan. – Culture

The board of directors of the Bayreuth Festival has decided to make savings at the world-famous opera festival. The economic plan presented by the management had been approved, said the chairman of the board of directors, Georg von Waldenfels, to the German Press Agency at the weekend after the committee meeting. There had previously been strong criticism of the cuts formulated in the economic plan – including from the German Music Council, which called the planned reduction in the festival choir “an indictment”. The Association of German Opera and Dance Ensembles (VdO) fears an impending “job cut” because the number of permanent choir members is expected to shrink by 40 percent from 134 to 80 in the coming year. The festival, on the other hand, spoke of a “restructuring of the festival choir”. In the future, it will consist of a main choir and a special choir – “which means that the usual 134 choir members can continue to be heard in all exposed choral works.” According to the festival, the reason for the cost-cutting measures is “significant cost increases” that affect all opera houses. High energy costs, expensive materials and increased personnel costs are mentioned “due to very high collective bargaining agreements in the public sector”https://www.sueddeutsche.de/kultur/.”The additional financial requirement will cumulatively amount to several million euros in the following years,” the festival announced . According to the festival, the planned savings affect “all departments and areas”. As von Waldenfels, who is also chairman of the Society of Friends of Bayreuth, announced, the patrons’ association will pay 2.4 million euros to the Festspiel-GmbH next year – around one million euros less than before due to the decline in donations. He did not say how this gap would be made up in 2024. The federal government, the Free State of Bavaria and the Friends of Bayreuth each hold 29 percent of the GmbH, while the city of Bayreuth has 13 percent. However, the distribution of the shares is to change due to the Friends’ dwindling financial strength, as the Bavarian state government decided in the summer: Because the association had announced that it would pay less for the festival due to lower income, Bavaria’s federal and state governments should free up shares take over shares. But that hasn’t been decided yet.