Photo: DPAAn edgy new opera production by Australian Jewish director Barrie Kosky tackling Wagner's anti-Semitism head-on won rapturous applause at Germany's renowned Bayreuth opera festival and rave reviews Wednesday. An audience including German Chancellor Angela Merkel cheered the four-and-a-half-hour staging of "The Master-Singers of Nuremberg" on opening night Tuesday at Bayreuth, the festival dedicated to the works of Richard Wagner. Wagner's musical and artistic legacy from the 19th century is infused with anti-Semitism, misogyny and proto-Nazi ideas of racial purity. The Bayreuth festival, still run by the Wagner family, long tried to separate the works from their murky origins. The Bayreuth festival runs to August 28th.

Source: The Local July 26, 2017 11:37 UTC