Bregenzer Festspiele 3.59

Bregenzer Festspiele is a performing arts festival which is held every July and August in Bregenz, Austria.Festival BasicsFounded in 1946, one year after World War II, the festival presents a wide variety of musical and theatrical events in several venues: Seebühne, with its 7,000 seat open-air amphitheatre, is the location for large-scale opera or musical performances on a stage over water on the shores of Lake Constance. Opera or musical productions on the floating stage generally tend to come from the popular operatic repertoire, but often are extravagantly original and innovative productions/ stagings, frequently using the waters of the lake as an extension of the stage. Recent productions have included Aida by Giuseppe Verdi in 2009 & 2010; Tosca by Giacomo Puccini in 2007–2008; Il trovatore by Giuseppe Verdi in 2005–2006; West Side Story by Leonard Bernstein in 2003-2004; La bohème by Giacomo Puccini in 2001–2002, and Ein Maskenball by Giuseppe Verdi in 1999–2000. Festspielhaus presents performances of rarely performed opera and concerts. Werkstattbühne presents performances of contemporary theatre and opera. Theater am Kornmarkt presents operetta and drama performances. shed8/Theater Kosmos venue for drama and crossculture performances. The Festival became an international event in its first year 1946. People from Germany, Switzerland and France came to the festival. Two stages were created out of floating barges. One barge for the Vienna Symphony Orchestra and the other barge for carrying stage structures.