Bayreuth Festival Dissolves Existing Chorus Due to Financial Constraints
By Francisco SalazarThe Bayreuth Festival has announced that it is dissolving its chorus.
At the end of the season, the company noted that chorus members would have to re-audition for a slot in the new smaller ensemble.
The news comes after the festival announced a new chorus director Thomas Eitler – de Lint after Eberhard Friedrich announced he was leaving earlier than scheduled due to.
According to reports Friedrich was upset at the reduced chorus which saw 134 chorus members reduced to 115 of which 80 are full-time. Friedrich served as the chorus director at the Bayreuth Festival for 25 years.
Over the past four years, the Bayreuth Festival has struggled with financial issues and the administrative board has made significant cuts to its budget including the chorus. The Association of German Opera and Dance Ensembles voiced fears of “mass layoffs” but the festival referred to this as a ‘restructuring’ of the festival chorus. According to the festival, the cuts were due to “significant cost increases” affecting all opera houses, including high energy costs, expensive materials, and increased personnel costs due to high salary agreements in the public sector.
This season the festival had 30 sellouts and had 58,000 people attend.
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