Positive Results for the 2016 International May Festival

No less than 22 000 visitors attended the 48 performances on offer during the 2016 International May Festival.

Amongst this year’s bestsellers were the operas “Der fliegende Holländer”, “Così fan tutte“ and “La forza del destino”, as well as the Komische Oper Berlin’s operetta production “Eine Frau, die weiß, was sie will”. In the drama division, audience favourites were “Die Unschuldigen, ich und die Unbekannte am Rand der Landstraße“ (Berliner Ensemble & Vienna Burgtheater), “Liebe. Trilogie meiner Familie 1“ (Thalia Theater Hamburg) and “Die Reise nach Petuschki“ (Vienna Burgtheater), while the dance pieces “Last Work“ (Batsheva Dance Company, Tel Aviv) and Martin Schlaepfer’s “7” (Balletts am Rhein) were equally well received. The 2016 International May Festival ended on Sunday evening with a sold-out performance of “Wagner’s Ring in one Evening” by Loriot in the Großes Haus.

The 2017 edition of the festival is devoted to Wagner’s mammoth Ring Cycle, which will be performed twice in its entirety during the course of the festival. As usual, festivalgoers can expect a star-studded cast of singers! Catherine Foster will return for the festival’s grand opening concert on 30 April 2017, alongside Klaus Florian Vogt and René Pape in the Großes Haus. The concert, which features a special Wagner programme, will be conducted by Patrick Lange, the State Theatre’s new GMD (as from 2017/18).

Other singers performing in the various opera galas include Maria Bengtsson, Gerald Finley, Catherine Foster, Gerd Grochowski, Evelyn Herlitzius, Johannes Martin Kränzle, Hanna-Elisabeth Müller, Michael Nagy, Albert Pesendorfer and Andreas Schager.

Bookings for some performances, including the two Ring cycles, have already opened, while the entire festival goes on sale as from February 2017, when the complete programme is officially released.