Actually, it comes as no surprise that the board in Bayreuth sided with Katharina Wagner (Wolfgang’s choice) and her half-sister, Eva Wagner-Pasquier, to run the renowned German festival. However, the inexperienced Katharina has already disappointed audiences with last season’s “Die Meistersinger” in which she directed the cast to drop their drawers and wave plastic phalluses about. High art, not.
I wish the pair the best of luck and a modicum of good taste amid the experimentation, for the sake of the world’s opera lovers. I can’t stand having to watch Wagner through my fingers.
Suzanne Calvin, Assoc. Dir. of Marketing, The Dallas Opera