The empire in Bregenz has a new ruler. It is still stumbling

When an opera was first performed in the Gondola Harbor on Lake Constance in 1946, no one could have imagined what it would become: an entire festival district, with a massive lakeside stage, soundtracked by one of the world's most advanced sound systems, the Festspielhaus, another venue for more experimental works, and a brand-new building, including the workshops, which was completed just this spring. Next year, the Bregenz Festival will be eighty years old.

The performance on the lake in front of seven thousand spectators every evening is only the most publicized format and, of course, the most profitable; the nearly five-week program includes other musical theater productions, concerts, an opera studio for young singers, even drama and a dedicated youth program.

The new mistress of this empire is Lilli Paasikivi. After ten years, she succeeded Elisabeth Sobotka, who moved to Germany as artistic director of the Berlin State Opera. The Finnish singer, whose first festival summer begins these days, is an interesting choice. She first became known, even internationally, as a singer. As a mezzo-soprano, she was a member of the Finnish National Opera ensemble for fifteen years before taking over as artistic director there in 2013. She speaks fluent German, not least because she has sung many demanding German roles in operas by Wagner and Strauss. In the future, she will also teach the young singers in the Opera Studio herself.

Her origins are evident in this summer's program: A striking number of Finns will be making their way to the border triangle between Austria, Germany, and Switzerland in the coming weeks. Choreographer Tero Saarinen is contributing two productions, homage to Finnish national composer Jean Sibelius will be paid with the choral symphony "Kullervo," which is rarely performed in Central Europe, and Osmo Tapio Räihälä is composing a monodrama for the concert. "If you hire a singer and artistic director from the North, you want that to be reflected in the program," Paasikivi says in an interview, "especially at the beginning." However, the future of the festival is not intended to be a "Nordic festival."

Outwardly, the festival district looks almost the same as last year during the first few days. The wintery village for "Freischütz," staged by Philipp Stölzl as a high-tech spectacle and performed every two years, is still on the lake stage. The fact that Lilli Paasikivi doesn't have to immediately embark on a new production at the lake is intended to ease the transition. The opera production in the Festspielhaus will thus be her actual opening premiere. It will also be a lesser-known piece, as is tradition. Paasikivi has chosen one of the most substantial, yet also most delicate, operas from the early 20th century: "Œdipe," on which the Romanian composer George Enescu worked for twenty years.

The demands on the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and the Prague Philharmonic Choir, the Festival's resident ensembles, are great, as are the soloists. The French text is based on the two surviving Oedipus plays by Sophocles. It aims more at the metaphysical than the theatrical: Although the gods have condemned Oedipus to kill his father and marry his mother, he must learn to love his fate and thus the gods.

The Salzburg Festival, which has more resources for such a production, achieved a surprise success with the opera in 2019. In Bregenz, they initially had bad luck: At the beginning of rehearsals, the singer for the title role withdrew. Stand-in Paul Gay, while technically competent, performed in the Festspielhaus, lacked the color for a broader interpretation. In addition, the Finnish conductor Hannu Lintu was noticeably at ease with the French-influenced sensuality of the sound.

In the first two acts, which are more sparsely orchestrated, there are real gaping holes in the orchestra; after the interval, Lintu lets the orchestra play more vigorously, but in doing so, he causes the machine to wobble. And the direction doesn't help matters: Andreas Kriegenburg can't decide between archaic austerity and psychological theatrical gestures. What results is an ancient merry-go-round with voluminous robes, shepherd's crooks, torches, and a good deal of fog. With Kriegenburg, Paasikivi relied on a veteran, but unfortunately, he only got routine carelessness.

The opening premiere doesn't necessarily have to be interpreted as an aesthetic guideline for the future; Paasikivi's directorial lineup for the Seebühne speaks against this. The new artistic director has already set the schedule until 2029, because the gigantic, multi-million dollar stage sets require corresponding planning lead times. Starting next year, Verdi's "La Traviata" will be shown, directed by Damiano Michieletto, and starting in 2028, Wagner's "The Flying Dutchman" will be staged by Lydia Steier. Both are internationally sought-after directors, but unlike Andreas Kriegenburg, they represent a tough, conceptually driven style of director's theater. Whether this will work for a mass audience remains to be seen.

Even under Elisabeth Sobotka, the Seebühne was by no means a place for naive illustrations, but she clearly placed the emphasis on spectacle. The Werkstattbühne, on the other hand, has always been a good place for more advanced works: This year, the prominent mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato will present a new work by the American composer Kevin Puts based on poems by Emily Dickinson. In the future, Paasikivi also hopes to experiment more with immersive and multidisciplinary formats.

But for the immediate future, Paasikivi has other problems: Just a few weeks before the start of her first festival, the federal, state, and city sponsors announced they would cut their subsidies by a whopping 30 percent. The Austrian economy is struggling. For the festival, this means a loss of 2.1 million euros per year. "Of course, this is a disappointment," says Paasikivi, especially because the cuts would take effect immediately. "Our options for reacting are essentially zero." She can no longer change ticket prices and thus the revenue for the current year, and most of the contracts for the coming year have already been signed.

Her predecessor managed the company well and left behind reserves. However, Paasikivi can only calculate with them to a limited extent because she is dependent on the weather. If the performance on the lake is canceled due to bad weather, only a portion of the audience can move to the dry Festspielhaus, while the remaining tickets must be paid for. Therefore, Paasikivi has temporarily paused a planned expansion of the sound system, as well as the cooperation with the Vienna Burgtheater in the drama department. Instead, she wants to "concentrate on the core business," namely musical theater. But cuts of this magnitude would necessarily also have an impact on choirs, orchestras, and stage sets. A smooth restart looks different.