The Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival was honored on January 29 in the "Best Festival" category at the Oper! Awards 2024. The jury justified the choice as follows: "The fact that Max Emanuel Cencic has taken over artistic direction is a stroke of luck for the still-young festival. Baroque opera is rarely experienced with as much wit, entertainment, virtuosity and vital connection to the present as it is here." Dr. Clemens Lukas, executive director, and Georg Lang, creative producer of Bayreuth Baroque, received the prize in Amsterdam.
"I am filled with gratitude and joy for this prize, which has honored our young but ambitious festival," said artistic director Max Emanuel Cencic, who thanked the jury via video message. "This prize is of enormous importance to us because it emphasizes the vitality and innovative spirit of our festival." Dr. Clemens Lukas added: "We are particularly delighted that Bayreuth Baroque has already received so much international recognition in its fifth year of existence." Bayreuth Baroque was nominated last year for the International Opera Awards in the "Best Festival 2023" category. Forum Opéra awarded Alessandro nell'Indie in 2022 and Carlo il Calco in 2020 as "Best New Production."
The 2024 festival edition, from September 5 to 15, will again feature two staged opera productions: Ifigenia in Aulide by Nicola Antonio Porpora is being rediscovered in a new production by artistic director Max Emanuel Cencic after nearly 300 years (September 5, 7, 13 and 15). Additionally, Antonio Vivaldi's Orlando Furioso is the first international co-production with Teatro Comunale di Ferrara, to be seen at the Margravial Opera House (September 10 and 11). Numerous other events, including seven concerts, will explore the baroque atmosphere of Bayreuth at various locations. Two leading international baroque ensembles, Les Talens Lyriques under Christophe Rousset and Il Pomo d'Oro under Francesco Corti, will also accompany the 2024 festival. Also featured will be female stars from the baroque scene such as Anna Prohaska, Sandrine Piau, Nuria Rial, as well as countertenor and breakdancer Jakub Józef Orliński.