Bayreuth Festival U-turn: Katharina Wagner apologises to Michel Friedman and reinstates cancelled memorial concert

The planned memorial

A memorial concert titled "Verstummte Stimmen" (Silenced Voices) had been scheduled for 26 July, one day after the opening of the Bayreuth Festival's 150th anniversary season. The event was to honour Jewish musicians persecuted under the Nazi regime, with the publicist and lawyer Michel Friedman invited to deliver a speech addressing Richard Wagner's antisemitism, the entanglement of his descendants with the Nazi state and the festival’s failure to reckon with that past.

Cancellation and fierce backlash

Shortly before the festival, the event was cancelled, with the management citing security concerns. It later emerged that, by mid‑March at the latest, it was internally clear the concert would not go ahead. The city’s Friedrichsforum, which was to host it, was told by email on 16 March that the reservation could be lifted. No tickets had ever gone on sale.

“In a democracy, this is death by suicide. The seriousness of dealing with the antisemite Wagner has been led ad absurdum by this cancellation.”

Charlotte Knobloch, president of the Jewish Community of Munich and Upper Bavaria, called the move a declaration of bankruptcy on every level, accusing the festival of issuing a de facto disinvitation to Friedman and then shifting the blame onto him with the security excuse. Bavarian Arts Minister Markus Blume (CSU) said he was not convinced by that justification and demanded the festival find a solution.

“This cancellation is a declaration of bankruptcy on every level. To offer him a platform at this highly symbolic place and then withdraw it under a flimsy pretext is unprofessional and undignified.”

Wagner’s apology and reversal

On Thursday 18 June, Katharina Wagner, the festival director and great‑granddaughter of the composer, phoned Friedman and sent him a letter asking for forgiveness for the festival’s misjudgements and the fateful messages. She assured him the event would go ahead as originally intended.

“A pure celebration would be unbearable for me. I am truly very sorry.”

Friedman accepted her apology and agreed to travel to Bayreuth in July for the original date. The festival now intends to stage the memorial concert with his speech as planned.

From decision to reversal

Blume welcomed the move, reiterating that the fight against antisemitism requires a united front. The episode draws a line under a week of intense criticism that threatened to overshadow the anniversary season of one of Germany’s most prestigious cultural events.