THERE IS A SENSE OF ENDING in the festival industry, with all the major players in a state of nervous transition. Bayreuth, where you once had to wait years in a ballot for a ticket, now has seats to spare. Salzburg is suffering side-shocks of the Russia-Ukraine war. Lucerne is preparing for regime change. Verbier’s future is clouded in its thirtieth year. Edinburgh is in transition. The formula for producing music at high levels through the long vacation is suddenly cracked, if not broken.
A whistle was blown by Ioan Holender, former head of Vienna) has promised to improve her choice of conductors and directors. That might not be enough: state and federal ministers of culture descended on Bayreuth this summer muttering about a twilight of the Wagners.
