| Bregenzer Festspiele | |
|---|---|
 Aerial view of the stage of the Bregenzer Festspiele at and on Lake Constance (2008) | |
| Status | Active |
| Genre | Opera, Musical, Performance |
| Venue | Seebühne (floating stage), Festspielhaus (amongst others) |
| Locations | Bregenz,Vorarlberg |
| Country | Austria |
| Inaugurated | 1946[1] |
| Next event | 2025[2] |
| Capacity | 11,735 seats[3] |
| Budget | 22 million € per year[3] |
| Sponsor | Public subsidies: 6,94 million €, funds from sponsors and donors: 1,3 million €[3] |
| Website | bregenzerfestspiele |
Bregenzer Festspiele (German pronunciation:[ˌbreːɡɛntsɐˈfɛst.ʃpiːlə];Bregenz Festival) is a performing arts festival which is held every July and August inBregenz, Vorarlberg, Austria.It features a large floating stage which is situated onLake Constance.[4]
The Festival became an international event in its first year 1946, one year afterWorld War II. People from Germany, Switzerland and France came to the festival. Two stages were created out of floating barges. One barge for the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and the other barge for carrying stage structures.[citation needed]
TheVienna Symphony Orchestra is the biggest contributor to the Festival. This orchestra has a performance spot every year since the beginning of the festival. They have their own stage area and other venues used thorough out the festival. Every year the orchestra has a different conductor for each piece because it is considered the conductors performance. Kornmarktplatz, vorarlberg museum is the venture they are using for the 2016 Festival.[citation needed]
In 2001, the festival created a handful of contemporary arts events to go along with their usual performances. These events were a new collaboration with theKunsthaus Bregenz that revolved around the theme of "America of the 20th century", and The Art of Our Times program, also known as KAZ, that brought together contemporary theatre with Workshop Theatre while collaborating with Hamburg's Thalia Theater. Other add-ons that the festival created for more variety and entertainment are the Children's Festival, the opera and band workshops, and family and school-group concerts.[5]
From December 2003 until 2014,David Pountney has been the artistic director of the festival.[6]
Over April and May 2008, scenes for the 22ndJames Bond filmQuantum of Solace were filmed on the Seebühne during a performance ofTosca[7] and in June 2008 the German broadcasting corporationZDF hosted its2008 European Football Championship live broadcast studio on the floating stage.
In 2010, the festival offered about 100 performances that drew an audience of close to 200,000.
2015 was the first year forElisabeth Sobotka as artistic director. She started with 80 events and by end of August 2015, further founded the Opera Studio with the goal "to help young singers with their professional and personal development in a highly professional environment and also to create a staging that the audience will really enjoy".[8]
The season of year drew an audience of approx. 257,000.Carmen proved to be very popular and was mostly fully booked with a total audience number of 193,642 people, already including the dress rehearsal and crossculture night.[9] In 2018, the Bregenz Festival broke its own record: With 270,000 visitors in only 5 weeks, the festival attained a new attendance record. It attracted 400,000 people in total when the programme featuredBizet'sCarmen in 2017 and 2018.[10]
The Bregenz Festival continues to show a series of popularPuccini works.La Bohème was the first Puccini performance in 2001/02, followed byTosca in 2007/08 and most recentlyTurandot in 2015 and 2016,Madame Butterfly in 2021/22 will be the fourth opera by the Italian composer to be performed in Bregenz.
The festival offers guided tours from May to August.[11]
The Bregenzer Festspiele had to cancel the 2020 festival due to theCOVID-19 pandemic. The performances ofRigoletto and the operaNero have been postponed to 2021.[12]
The festival presents a wide variety of musical and theatrical events in the following venues:
Throughout the seasons, the festival puts on many different performances; from operas to plays and orchestral pieces. The performances range in theme and story and many are performed in consecutive seasons. The full list of shows performed is as follows:[13]
A visitor survey showed that the Lake Stage audience's origin is the following: 63 % Germany, 23 % Austria, 11 % Switzerland/Liechtenstein, 3 % other countries.(2019)[3]
The Bregenzer Festspiele has the following seating capacities:
This adds up to a total of 11,735 seats.[3]
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