Being a cultural organizer is not necessarily a great pleasure. Florian Zwipf-Zaharia can tell you a thing or two about that. Although the first Königswinkel Music Festival, which he organized in 2021, went satisfactorily, “the small deficit was bearable.” But with the second festival (September 28th to October 3rd), which was actually planned last year and postponed due to the uncertain pandemic situation, there is somehow something wrong with it. Although the top-class program is now in place, Zwipf-Zaharia cannot sit back and relax.
The managing director of the non-profit Königswinkel Kultur Gmbh came up with the idea of establishing the opera in Füssen two years ago. Of course with works by Richard Wagner, after all, the Neuschwanstein Festival Hall is located on the banks of Lake Forggensee directly opposite Ludwig II’s castle of the same name, where the king expressed his enthusiasm for the composer’s works in architecture and frescoes. In 2021, “Tristan and Isolde”, a highly praised production by the Richard Wagner Festival Wels, was played.
For the second edition of the festival, Zwipf-Zaharia had planned “The Flying Dutchman”, a production by Opera Sofia. But when he wanted to book the flights for singers, choir and orchestra in the spring, the prices had doubled. “That would have exceeded our budget.” Luckily, “Die Walküre” also premiered at the Bulgarian capital’s opera house in July. “Ideal for us because this Wagner work does not require a choir.”
The opera premiered 153 years ago in Munich, against the wishes of Wagner, who wanted to premiere “Die Walküre” on the stage in Bayreuth as part of his total work of art “The Ring of the Nibelung”. But the festival hall was not yet finished, and Ludwig II had no desire to wait for a performance in the provinces. He ordered the premiere at the Munich Court and National Theater. Wagner was unable to prevent the premiere on June 26, 1870 and stayed away, offended. Lothar Zagrosek will conduct the work in Füssen (October 1/3), with Detlev Eisinger giving the introduction on the piano the day before.
New at the festival: The Schumann Quartet can be heard in the St. Ulrich Parish Church in Seeg.
(Photo: Harald Hoffmann)
A novelty in the festival program are the chamber concerts, which take place in four Baroque and Renaissance churches in the Königswinkel. You can hear the Schumann Quartet in the St. Ulrich Parish Church in Seeg, the Henschel Piano Trio in the St. Nikolaus Church in Pfronten, the organist Hansjörg Albrecht in the Füssen Church of St. Mang, and the violinist Christoph Poppen, who is with Musicians from his Portuguese festival in Marvão will perform in the St. Johann Baptist Church in Steingaden.
Zwipf-Zaharia has canceled the planned festival concert in the festival hall. “For organizational reasons,” he says, but makes no secret of the fact that advance sales didn’t go well. What really shocked him as a long-standing and very ambitious organizer, especially when it came to youth work, was the lack of feedback on the planned school concert in the festival hall. Two years ago, 600 students took part and were enthusiastic; This time not a single class registered, although he registered numerous schools in the Allgäu.
“That leaves me a bit perplexed,” says Zwipf-Zaharia, thinking on the phone whether he will continue to pursue the difficult business of classical culture for much longer. “Perhaps the lack of popularity is also due to the region,” he speculates. It is generally not easy to attract visitors from outside the festival hall. But whatever: the festival will take place. “And then we’ll talk some more.”
Königswinkel Music Festival, September 28th to October 3rd, in the Neuschwanstein Festival Hall and in churches in the surrounding area. Info: https://das-festspielhaus.de/musikfestspiele-koenigswinkel/