The Bayreuth Festival, the world-renowned opera lovers' marathon, has pulled off possibly the artistic coup of the decade and joined forces with the Danish film director Lars von Trier.
Best known for his trademark hand-held cameras, disdain for artificial light, and limited use of dialogue, Von Trier will stage Richard Wagner's rousing Der Ring des Nibelungen in 2006 at the festival headed by the composers' 82-year-old grandson Wolfgang.
"With one fell swoop, [Wolfgang] Wagner has swept away all accusations that Bayreuth is stuffy and archaic," wrote one German art critic yesterday.
Von Trier, 45, has a lot to live up to. The Ring - an opera cycle set over four evenings, which deals with old German legends - is the most famous of Wagner's works and the performance most keenly watched by critics.
Opera lovers are often forced to wait for up to a decade to obtain tickets.
The composer's grandson confounded critics by signing up Von Trier, a move likely to help the Bavarian extravaganza shed its staunchly conservative image.
Organisers of the festival, which attracts 50,000 opera lovers each year, say that the working relationship between Wagner and Von Trier developed gradually over the year.
Von Trier won acclaim for his 1996 film Breaking the Waves, and later with the musical film Dancer in the Dark, starring the Icelandic singer Björk, which won the Palme D'Or at Cannes last year.
One of the main founders of the Dogme school of film, Von Trier will work together on the Ring cycle with the Icelandic stage and costume designer Karl Juliusson. Christian Thielemann, the music director of Berlin's Deutsche Oper, will conduct.
"The calling of Von Trier to the festival is further proof that we are determined Bayreuth will not stagnate and is constantly trying to refresh itself," said a festival spokesman, Peter Emmerich.
Opera critics are waiting with baited breath to find out if the Danish director will apply his philosophy that "there are no rules" to his work at Bayreuth, and to see how that will go down with the Germans.
