The Bayreuth Festival has announced that due to rising costs, it will cut its chorus by 40 percent.

The organization said that the reduction will begin during its 2024 season and according to Platea Magazine, the chorus will be reduced from 134 to 80 members. Additionally, the festival noted that as its state subsidies will not increase and additional financial requirements would amount to several million euros in the coming years, it has developed proposals on how to counteract projected cost increases.

As a result, the choir board and the Association of German Opera and Dance Ensembles (VdO) representation of the Bayreuth Festival Choir have contested the chorus’ reduction and have requested concrete figures and justifications for the decision.

In a statement, the VdO said, “The proposed choir size does not meet the artistic requirements and will affect the quality of the performances. The planned reduction in the collectively agreed size of the choir by 40 percent or 54 people would have significant effects that were not taken into account.”