First-ever 'public viewing' in Bayreuth draws thousands
BAYREUTH, Germany (AFP) — The public viewing area for the prestigious Bayreuth Festival, a sort of Richard Wagner "fan mile" similar to those seen at major football championships, was a runaway success, attracting crowds of up to 38,000 on Sunday night, organisers said.
The idea was originally dismissed by critics, who predicted that the first-ever live transmission of a performance from Bayreuth's legendary "Festspielhaus" theatre to a gigantic outdoor screen would not interest anyone.
But similar "opera for everyone" events have already proved extremely popular at Munich's summer opera festival down the road.
And Wagner's 30-year-old great-granddaughter, Katharina, who wants to take over the Bayreuth Festival when her 88-year-old father Wolfgang steps down next month, said it was part of a strategy to win over new audiences.
It was a performance of Katharina's own production of Wagner's only comic opera, "The Mastersingers of Nuremberg" , that was broadcast for the event.
German electronics giant Siemens sponsored the event to the tune of 150,000 euros, while it was organised by Bayreuth's tourist office and the local daily, the Nordbayerischer Kurier, agreed to be the media partner.
In the end, the venture paid off and even with temperatures reaching 31 degrees Celsius, tens of thousands stormed to the town's "Volksfestplatz" for a picnic on Sunday and to watch -- free of charge -- at least part of the six-and-a-half hour performance beamed directly from the theatre.
Just after the performance started at 4:00 pm (1400 GMT), more than 15,000 people had gathered in front of the huge 90-square-metre screen, prompting the authorities to cordon off the area and stop anyone else coming in.
But not everyone had the stamina to watch the whole thing, and by 9:20 pm, a total of 38,000 people had passed by to watch at least some of the proceedings, the organisers estimated.
Bavarian Radio, which has been broadcasting premières live from the Bayreuth Festival since the 1930s, was responsible for the sound.
Eight remote-controlled cameras transmitted images direct from the Festpielhaus via cable to the giant LED screen.
Technically, the broadcast was glitch-free. And more importantly, it proved a big hit with spectators, too -- even those who were not proclaimed Wagner fans.
"We haven't had to wait 10 years and more for a ticket. Now we can watch for free," said one elderly woman.
Unlike on Bayreuth's famous Green Hill on which the Festspielhaus sits, where guests sweat in tuxedos and ball-gowns in the non-air-conditioned theatre, there was no dress code in the public viewing area, with spectators in shorts and sandals.
In parallel, the same performance was also broadcast live on the Internet for the first time ever. And for the price of 49 euros, around 10,000 people logged onto the festival website for the first-ever live stream webcast.
