Bayreuth is one of the world’s best-known music festivals dedicated to the works of 19th-century German composer Richard Wagner. Ukrainian-born maestra Oksana Lyniv became the first woman to conduct a production in the 145-year history of Germany’s renowned Bayreuth opera festival.
Lyniv opened the festival on July 25 with the premiere of The Flying Dutchman, with Chancellor Angela Merkel and her husband in the audience. When asked what she thought of the festival having its first female conductor, Merkel simply said, “Finally!”