© Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, Siegfried 2019

News

25.10.2018
10 years of travel with the Wagner Society of Munich
The travel-happy Wagnerians of the Bavarian state capital looked back over the last ten years at an "Oktoberfest" held by their Wagner Society
At an event in a traditional restaurant in the heart of Munich's old town, members of the WS Munich held an "Oktoberfest" on 14 October, partaking of a hearty Bavarian "snack".

On the programme for the evening was a review of the opera and cultural journeys over the last 10 years with around 500 photos taken by the Chairman Karl Russwurm.



Choosing the best from thousands of photos, taken during more than 50 trips made by the Society - half of which were outside Germany - was not an easy task.

Regular trips to our region - to Bayreuth, Augsburg, Regenburg, Nuremberg, Innsbruck, Stuttgart, Augsburg, Regensburg, Ulm, Darmstadt and Karlsruhe - have been and continue to be part of our programme. 

Our participation (providing singers) in the competition for stage directors in Graz has attracted numerous members, along with participation in the annual Wagner Congresses and the 3-yearly Wagner Singing Competition. We organised repeated tours to Minden and the Elbphilharmonie as well as the unmissable destinations of the Wagner cities of Leipzig, Dresden, Halle, Magdeburg and Weimar.  Larger trips to London, Paris, Istanbul, Venice, Naples, Iceland, Moscow and Cuba with special concerts and opera experiences proved to be particular highlights.


Boat trip on the Danube 2014 - on the left Herr Tettinek, on the right by the window Karl Russwurm, Mrs. Bermann WS Vienna and critic Klaus Billand.


Minden 2009/2012 Bernd Zeytz, Esther Russwurm, Dr. Winkler

The "opera steamers" became something of a trademark: During several river cruises on the Danube
(Linz, Bratislava, Vienna, Budapest), the Rhine (Koblenz, Cologne, Bonn, Düsseldorf), the Rhône/Saône and most recently the Neva/Volga we had many visits to the opera, concerts and various tours on the programme.


Moscow 2011 - Karl Russwurm, Yuri Yaroslavtsev, Hilde Lutz


Paris 2011 Annie Benoit WS Paris , Karl Russwurm

"If there is no Wagner on site, then we simply took him with us on our travels," was Karl Russwurm's motto . For performances by Munich and Augsburg scholarship holders, halls were rented on site and concerts, planned by Hilde Lutz (WS Augsburg), were organised together with local Wagner Societies. We often had friendly meetings with WS board members and society members in the cities we visited.

A well-functioning network of Wagner friends worldwide is a valuable asset. On this October evening the members of the Munich WS looked back on our journeys partly wistfully, partly with amusement, but at the same time also eagerly looked ahead in the hope of many other such national and international undertakings, including a tour of several days to Frankfurt and Wiesbaden in November as well as a great trip to the Wagner Congress in Venice in the winter of 2019 - which is currently being prepared in co-operation with the travel company Ars Musica.


Iceland 2014 - Scholarship holders with the WS Chairs from Reykjavik, Augsburg and Munich

14.10.18 Karl Russwurm, RWV Munich