Bregenz Festival 2024: An exciting summer without construction sites!

Bregenz Festival 2024: An exciting summer without construction sites!

The Bregenz Festival, a cultural highlight on Lake Constance, can look back on an exceptionally successful season. Festival President Hans-Peter Metzler was optimistic about the coming season, which can come up with a record of income and number of visitors. For 2024, 27 performances are already planned on the lake stage, which ensures a capacity of around 192,000 tickets. Despite this success, the commercial director Michael Diem emphasizes that reserves have to be tapped for the seasons, which indicates the financial challenges with which the festival are confronted.

The year 2024 becomes particularly important for the festival, since the third renovation and expansion stage of the Festspielhaus is completed. This enables an increase in efficiency and marks the first summer without a construction site in the festival house, which arouses additional anticipation for the performances. The new artistic boss, who took over her position on October 1, 2024, will guide the staging of "Der Freischütz". This opera of Carl Maria von Weber has her premiere on the seaside stage on July 17, 2025, and the audience can look forward to a gripping plot in which the district clerk Max makes risky decisions.

artistic highlights and premieres

In the next season, “Oedipe” will also be shown as an opening game on July 16, 2024. Director Andreas Kriegenburg plans to present this demanding opera as one of the darkest and cruelest stories. The work places high demands on artistic staff and offers both challenges and opportunities for creative development.

Another highlight of the 80th festival season is the premiere of Verdi's famous opera "La Traviata", which will be performed on the lake stage on July 22, 2026. The revival of "The Excursions of Mr. Brouček", which is staged by American director Yuval Sharon, is also very interested. This production, which celebrates its premiere on July 23, 2026, has an innovative stage design and costumes by Jon Bausor. Robert Jindra takes over the musical direction. The plot even even plays on the moon, which demands additional imagination and creativity.

A review of the festival history

The Bregenz Festival has developed into an international event since 1946. The first performances took place on converted inserts before a permanent stage was installed in 1950. The festival has grown continuously over the years and now have a variety of performance options, including the large hall in the Festspielhaus and the new workshop stage.

A central goal of the festival is to achieve the young generation. Every year, around 10,000 young people are addressed by special programs that promote access to culture. Previous performances, including masterpieces such as "Turandot" and "Carmen", were very well received both then and today.

With a varied program for the coming years, the Bregenz Festival will continue to be the focus of cultural life on Lake Constance. It is a place where music and art merge in an impressive backdrop and attracts the audience from near and far. Preparations for the next season are already in full swing, and the anticipation of the visitors is noticeable. Für weitere Informationen über die kommende Saison können Interessierte die offiziellen Seiten der Bregenzer Festspiele konsultieren: Kleine Zeitung, Bodensee Erlebnis and Bodensee Vorarlberg .