US director Jay Scheib is bringing a new sense of reality to this year's festival in Bavaria, with Wagner's operas being presented with the help of virtual technology.
The Bayreuth Festival has long been regarded as an elitist classical music festival for the affluent set. That's about to change this year with free outdoor concerts.
The opera "Tristan und Isolde" kicked off the Bayreuth Festival, offering brief reprieve from news of war, climate catastrophes and an ongoing pandemic.
Former German Chancellor and avowed Richard Wagner fan, Angela Merkel, was among the luminaries attending the premiere of the month-long opera festival.