“Eva Wagner-Pasquier, 68, great grand-daughter of Richard Wagner, will retire as co-director of the Bayreuth Festival next year,” writes Janos Gereben in Tuesday’s (2/25) San Francisco Classical Voice. “She currently runs the festival in uneasy collaboration with her much younger half-sister, Katharina Wagner, 36. They were originally appointed in 2008, taking over from their father, Wolfgang Wagner (1919-2010), and their contracts are scheduled to expire in September 2015, but Wagner-Pasquier says she will not have her contract extended. Nordbayerischer Kurier quotes her as saying: ‘I’ve asked the stakeholders to involve me as an advisor.’ She did not give any reasons why she no longer wanted to run the festival, the newspaper said. Various websites and German publications have a field day speculating on what’s going on behind the scenes. As Wagner-Pasquier would turn 70 at the time of contract renewal, it’s possible that she just wants to retire—mostly, but not completely. Wagner-Pasquier … has had a storied career. In 1967 she became the personal assistant of her father, and was responsible for the casting in Patrice Chéreau’s production of the Ring cycle in 1976.” She has also worked at the Vienna State Opera, Royal Opera Covent Garden, Théatre du Châtelet in Paris, Teatro Real in Madrid, the Metropolitan Opera, and Houston Grand Opera.
Posted February 26, 2014
