On July 25, the Bayreuth Festival opened with a new production of "Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg". The Swiss conductor Philippe Jordan was in charge of the musical direction. The production was directed by Barrie Kosky, artistic director and chief director of the Komische Oper Berlin.
Before and after the opera and during the one-hour intermissions, music journalist and Wagner expert Axel Brüggemann hosted the four-hour program "Bayreuth - The Show," live from the Grüner Hügel.
The longtime Bayreuth connoisseur reports from the red carpet. He discussed Richard Wagner, his music and his life with prominent guests and the artists. He also took a look behind the scenes of the world-famous festival and showed it from a completely unorthodox perspective.
Brüggemann welcomed musician and presenter Ina Müller, singer Jasper, comedians Thomas Hermanns and Wigald Boning, soccer expert and opera fan Fritz von Thurn und Taxis, Dr. Sven Friedrich, director of the Richard Wagner Museum Bayreuth, as well as singers René Pape, Stefan Vinke, Nadine Weissmann and Camilla Nylund, who performed in various Bayreuth Festival productions this summer.
After the end of the live opera broadcast, Bayreuth's mayor Brigitte Merk-Erbe and participants in the new "Meistersinger" production joined Brüggemann in the studio: director Barrie Kosky and singers Anette Schwanewilms, Klaus Florian Vogt, Michael Volle and Johannes Martin Kränzle.