These spectacular images show why the Bregenzer Festspiele which has the world’s largest floating stage is celebrating another fantastic season with 250,000 guests so far this year.
The festival, which has the world’s largest floating stage, situated against the Alpine background of the spectacular Lake Constance, runs every year in July and August.
It is also a festival that proves classical performances are still very marketable, bringing annually EUR 150 million to the local community with guests spending on average around EUR 300 per day when they visit.
It was first opened with a 7,000 seat open-air amphitheatre and floating stage with the aim of offering opera and musical performances from the lakeside. It frequently focuses on rarely performed operas and concerts and this year it was the turn of Rigoletto by Giuseppe Verdi.
It continues the same performance always for two years, with the last time it changed being at the end of 2018 when they had been performing Carmen by Georges Bizet. The next time the stage will change is in 2021 when Madame Butterfly by Giacomo Puccini will be performed.
During the summer period when the festival is in operation, local hotels are packed, and the tiny local town of Bregenz increases in population size 10 times.
Local business spokesman Clemens Sagmeister said: “We notice the people that come to the festival tend to stay several days, and that benefits not just brilliance but also the other areas near. Hotels, restaurants and shops all profit from the Bregenzer Festspiele.”
Despite being in the Alpine region Bregenz does not attract people at the level it does when the festival is operating, and Hubert Kinz from the local Hirschen guesthouse joked that they had “one of the shortest high seasons in the world”.
The final performance for this year takes place this weekend on Sunday. After that the artists and performers together with the tourists will be leaving the regional capital.
Clemens Sagmeister added: “We are always sad to see them go, but we are always pleased when they come back again next year.”
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Story By: Michael Leidig, Sub-Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
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