According to a statement on the Bayreuth website, stepsisters Katharina Wagner and Eva Wagner-Pasquier will take over the Festspiele from their father Wolfgang Wagner, who is retiring after more than half a century at the helm of the festival.

Members of the “Wieland” branch of the Wagner family tree are, of course, furious at this selection of Wolfgang’s daughers as “Festspielleiterinnen” by the foundation that administers the Festival. Wolf Siegfried Wagner (son of Wieland) slammed the selection process as “unworthy.” Wolf Siegfried’s sister Nike Wagner lost their a joint bid with Gerard Mortier (not a member of the Wagner family at the moment) to head the festival.

“Of course I am sad about the outcome of the process,” Nike sighed in a statement released to Bloomberg News. “I hope that my cousins will seize the initiatives that Gerard Mortier and I presented. I wish them much success in that.'”

Katharina’s next artistic project at the Festival will be a new production of Tristan und Isolde in 2015, with Christian Thielemann as music director.

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