Mith just four words, Katharina Wagner, artistic director of the Bayreuth Festival that begins today and great-granddaughter of composer Richard Wagner, showed conductor Christian Thielemann his limits over the weekend. At the official press conference, Georg von Waldenfels, Chairman of the Festival’s Board of Directors, reported that Thielemann expressed irritation in a personal conversation that there were “so many new faces” in the Festival Orchestra. Specifically, his irritation is said to have referred to two double bass players. But Waldenfels told Thielemann that the festival management could not make any changes in the cast. Then Wagner interjected in the conference: “and also didn’t want to”. It was quiet but clear. Wagner went on to say that the double bass player in question would not be replaced simply because she was a good musician.
The incident, however it happened, was leaked to the local press and reported there as if Thielemann had been speaking in an authoritarian, condescending, and misogynist manner. According to Waldenfels, this is untrue according to current knowledge. The women in question have not complained about any verbal attacks or rudeness from Thielemann. Waldenfels claimed that Thielemann’s displeasure was directed at new musicians in general, regardless of whether they were men or women. But it must be clearly stated that the composition of the festival orchestra is no longer within Thielemann’s area of responsibility, who was only officially “music director” of the festival until 2019. He is now just a conductor alongside others such as Cornelius Meister, Markus Poschner and Oksana Lyniv.
#MeToo #allegations #women #Bayreuth