2018
Highest visitor numbers ever seen
After its second season, Kasper Holten's production of Georges Bizet's opera and the stage set designed by Es Devlin attracted a total of almost 400,000 visitors on 57 evenings, corresponding to 100 % of capacity. Almost 206,000 guests got the chance to experience Carmen in 2017. 207,000 visitors in total flocked to Lake Constance - more than ever before.
Carmen for children
This season already started at the end of May when a child-friendly version of Carmen was staged at the Große Saal of the Festspielhaus. More than 3,000 students were excited to watch and participate in the hands-on opera, leaving all three performances almost sold out.
Bregenz Festival opens with an Austrian premiere
The festival summer opened with the Austrian premiere of Berhold Goldschmidt's opera Beatrice Cenci at the Festspielhaus. Johannes Erath's production based on a true story of human violence and ecclesiastical corruption attracted more than 4,000 visitors during three performances.
Das Jagdgewehr: „A risk worth taking“
A musical theatre, that went through almost six years of planning, celebrated its premiere: Karl Markovics' production of Das Jagdgewehr (The Hunting Gun) by Tyrolian composer Thomas Larcher, a composition commissioned by Bregenz Festival. "A risk worth taking" was one of the first reviews of the opera that is based on a short novel by Japanese author Yasushi Inoue.
Goldener Schikaneder for "Best Director" goes to Karl Markovics
"For me, rehearsing for Das Jagdgewehr was one of the most fulfilling experiences I have ever had in my career, not only from an artistic perspective but also personally. Working in Bregenz is fantastic and the people that work here really give it their all."
Karl Markovics
On the occasion of the Austrian Music Theater Award (Österreichischer Musiktheaterpreis) in June 2019 Karl Markovics won the "Goldene Schikaneder" for "Best Director". With the premiere of Das Jagdgewehr the actor, author and director celebrated his opera debut at Bregenz Festival in 2018.
He was particularly happy that the courage to commission new operas was actually rewarded. Thomas Larcher's work was on programme at the Aldeburgh Festival in England in 2018; in 2020 it was performed at the Opera Forward Festival in the Netherlands.
Diverse art performances at the Kornmarkttheater
The premiere of The Barber of Seville at the Kornmarkttheater Bregenz received standing ovations. It was the fourth time that the young singers of the Opera Studio, which was founded in 2015 by artistic director Elisabeth Sobotka, performed there. Brigitte Fassbaender's production attracted more than 1,974 visitors, corresponding to 100% of capacity. Furthermore, the Kammersinger shared her knowledge as a vocal coach during the Opera Studio masterclass once more.
Also at the Kornmarkttheater and only a few days after the festival's opening, the director and puppeteer Nikolaus Habjan examined the conflicting personality of Karl Böhm, who was portrayed by a puppet like almost all of the other characters.