Bayreuth Festival offering worldwide web a Wagnerian afternoon at the opera today

Bayreuth Festival photo 

From looking at the press materials, it might think that German industrial giant Siemens has taken over from Katharina Wagner as the name-brand behind the Bayreuth Festival today.

There's a children's opera already underway in a day of live transmissions from inside Festspielhaus, which include a live presentation of Tankred Dorst's 2006 production of Die Walküre that starts at 11 a.m., EDST (4 p.m. in Bayreuth).

It looks like a strong international cast, led by the stolid Johan Botha as Siegmund. The conductor is Christian Thielemann.

There have been public screening areas set out in the Volksfestplatz. The rest of the world can watch a high-definition live-streaming broadcast on a site set up by Siemens. The opera will be made available for on-demand viewing tomorrow at 5:30 p.m., EDST.

To set yourself up, click here.

Unlike many other web offerings, you have to pay for this one. The admission charge is 14.90 euros, which entitles the customer to view live, view once on demand, and grants access to a variety of backstage featurettes, much like what the Metropolitan Opera has been doing.

For a sneak sample of today's music, here's a pirate recording of Botha singing "Winterstürme wichen dem Wonnemond," from Act 1, on July 28. Edith Haller is in the role of Sieglinde: