2019
Ein gleichermaßen berührender wie spektakulärer Rigoletto
"In Lake Constance, Rigoletto director Philipp Stölzl erected what can be described as nothing other than a sensation"
Südwestrundfunk Baden-Württemberg
Giuseppe Verdi's opera was on the playbill for the first time since the Festival was founded in 1946. "In Lake Constance, Rigoletto director Philipp Stölzl erected what can be described as nothing other than a sensation," one of the critics at the Südwestrundfunk Baden-Württemberg said for example. The audience showed its enthusiasm by giving prolonged applause at the end of each performance for the events in and on the colossal clowns head in Lake Constance and its captive balloon, which could rise up to more than 40 meters. At the end of its 74. season, the Bregenz Festival recorded 250,000 guests in total. 180,000 spectators saw the sold out Rigoletto performances. The Opera on the Lake had to be moved inside the Festspielhaus three times.
Four stages for a knight
Four events in total were dedicated to the self-appointed "knight of the rueful countenance" during the festival summer. The opera at the Festspielhaus Don Quichotte staged by Mariame Clément opened up a new perspective on what may be the most well known character of world literature probing heroism in today's world and exploring masculinity and new gender roles. It was seen by 4,603 spectators corresponding to 99% of capacity.
Based on the same subject, a genuine premiere took place at the Kornmarkttheater in cooperation with the Deutsche Theater Berlin. In the play Don Quijote staged by Jan Bosse, Ulrich Matthes and Wolfram Koch demonstrated how unconventional, how entertaining, how compelling theatre can be even without elaborate stage decor or props.
The Symphonieorchester Vorarlberg put three pieces centering around the knight to stage. Ariane Matiakh conducted the fourth and last orchestral concert of the season at the Festspielhaus.
As part of the popular series Musik & Poesie, the Vorarlberg-born writer Michael Köhlmeier approached different types of jesters also drawing a connection to Rigoletto and Don Quichotte. Furthermore, two evenings at the Seestudio guaranteed additional literary-musical treasures.
Intepersonal relationships with Eugene Onegin
The fifth Bregenz Opera Studio transformed the stage at the Kornmarkttheater into a forbidding natural landscape of marsh, grass and ferns. The way Jan Eßinger staged Peter Illjitsch Tschaikowski's Eugene Onegin allowed the audience to explore emotions and interpret interpersonal relationships at a place that does not necessarily has to be in Russia.
Two chief conductors at three concerts
Philippe Jordan and Fabio Luisi joined each other as the present and the former chief conductor at the rostrum for three of the traditional orchestral concerts with the Wiener Symphoniker. All of Johannes Brahm's symphonies were played on two consecutive days. The concert series opened with Guiseppe Verdi's opulent requiem.
The perfect place for contemporary art: The Werkstattbühne
Once more, the Werkstattbühne hosted contemporary musical theater. Bregenz Festival cooperated with the Neue Oper Wien for Der Reigen based on Arthur Schnitzler's play with the same name. It celebrated its premiere in Austria and was shown on the last two days of July. Another premiere took place on the last weekend of the festival: Wunderwandelwelt was shown on two consecutive evenings at the Werkstattbühne. François Sarhan designed the music theater installation.