Ukrainian conductor Oksana Lyniv on Sunday became the first woman to conduct an opera at the prestigious Bayreuth Festival.
The historic performance took place in the presence of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, a regular at the event, and her husband Joachim Sauer.
Oksana Lyniv, 43, opened the 2021 season of the festival founded in 1876 by German composer Richard Wagner by directing
The Phantom Ship,
in a new staging by Dmitry Chernyakov.
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"
A score by Richard Wagner is a major professional challenge for any conductor, regardless of genre,
" said Oksana Lyniv, interviewed last week by the
Berliner Zeitung
.
She praised the layout of the hall, where the orchestra pit is covered with a panel, concealing the musicians of the orchestra from the public eye.
“
It won't be about what I wear, how I run.
But only if it works or not, it will only be the sound,
”she told the newspaper.
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Born in Ukraine on January 6, 1978 in a family of musicians, Oksana Lyniv studied piano, flute, violin, singing, and conducted her first orchestra at the age of 16, the starting point of a career that will take her to the most prestigious venues. First an assistant at the Lviv Theater in western Ukraine, in 2003 she became principal guest conductor of the Leopolis Chamber Symphony Orchestra. Trained by the Dresden Academy of Music and the Odessa National Theater, founder of an orchestra of young musicians in Ukraine, she has been Kirill Petrenko's assistant at the Bayerische Staatsoper in Munich since the 2013-2014 season. Lynivv made his debut in the Wagnerian repertoire, directing
The Phantom Ship
in 2017
at the Liceu theater in Barcelona.
Since the 2017-2018 season, she has been the musical director of the Graz Opera and its Philharmonic Orchestra.
Sanitary pass and FFP2 mask
Canceled in 2020 due to the Covid-19 epidemic, the Bayreuth festival in northern Bavaria takes place this year in front of a small audience: only 911 spectators at the opening performance for the 1974 Festspielhaus seats .
Spectators can only attend if they are fully vaccinated or produce a recent negative test.
All must wear an FFP2 mask during the performance.
The choirs of the operas will only be heard in the form of recordings broadcast during the performance.
