Topping-out ceremony "La traviata"

The stage set for La traviata has gradually grown out of the winter mists on the lake over the past few months. Its main element is a dazzling mirror with an enormous surface area of 700 square metres and a height of around 28 metres,* broken into 86 pieces – from tiny splinters to large fragments, some of which serve as fold-out playing surfaces. More than half of the mirror fragments can be made to move. As the opera progresses, the fragments symbolically trace the development of the main character Violetta, who breaks down mentally and physically as a result of superficial Parisian society.

Director Damiano Michieletto has set the plot of Verdi’s masterpiece in the Roaring Twenties, a time when luxury and wild parties were meant to disguise inner emptiness and existential disorientation. Glittering sequins and surprising stage technology effects are reflected in the 1,400 square metre surface of the water basin, which functions as the main performing area along with the floor of mirror fragments behind it.

Steel, wood, hydraulics - and very special textiles

Since construction started on the lake stage on 19 August 2025 – one day after the closing performance of Der Freischütz – the Bregenz Festival’s technicians have been working with employees from 36 companies to create the impressive stage set, which will feature numerous technical refinements to mark the festival’s 80th anniversary in 2026. For example, the mirrored wall is not only manoeuvrable, but also serves as a screen for projections of short film clips that offer an insight into Violetta’s life. The mirror fragment edges look deceptively realistic with their green lacquer. Some of them also contain lighting elements.

Manufacturing the mirror splinters was particularly challenging. They consist of panels of wood bolted to a supporting steel structure and manoeuvred by hydraulic cylinders, and they are covered with a printed fabric. In order to apply this fabric correctly and wrinkle-free to the wooden panels, some of which are several square metres in size, a special machine was constructed to enable both an even application and the subsequent activation of the two-phase adhesive.

The water basin, on the other hand, is laid out with a material more familiar from the DIY store: 1,400 square metres of black grass carpet. This ensures that the performers have secure footing, as they did for Der Freischütz, and also that the basin’s “pond liner” is protected from damage. The basin itself contains filtered lake water, which is pumped in by two underwater pumps fitted with hydrocyclone filters. The water is fully replaced twice a day and before being returned to Lake Constance, it is purified by backwash filters.

Enough time remains for all the other painting and surface treatment work as well as for the installation of lighting and sound technology. Then in mid-June, rehearsals begin for the new opera on the lake, and the Bregenz stage will become a mirror of glamorous parties and powerful emotion.

La traviata on Lake Constance: premiere for an opera classic

With Giuseppe Verdi’s masterpiece La traviata, the festival’s artistic director Lilli Paasikivi is bringing one of the most popular works in opera history to the Bregenz lake stage for the first time. Director Damiano Michieletto and set designer Paolo Fantin have set the story of Parisian courtesan Violetta Valéry in the heady 1920s – a world of glamour, excess and inner emptiness. “It’s a cynical, capitalist, fascinating world that wants to consume and has no time to waste,” says Michieletto. Violetta’s fate unfolds as a modern drama: a woman who is in the spotlight of public attention at the same time lives in the shadow of social scorn. The opera will be conducted by Kirill Karabits and Pietro Rizzo. The production opens on 22 July 2026.

The Bregenz Festival’s lake stage productions are among the most technically and logistically complex opera productions in the world. Each opera is performed in two successive seasons, with the investments in stage design and infrastructure being made in this two-yearly cycle. Cost calculation is spread over both seasons of La traviata. Covering the entire life-cycle of the stage – construction, operation, maintenance and dismantling – the costs amount to around 10 million euros.

In summer 2026, La traviata will be performed 28 times. About 188,000 tickets were issued. The lake stage production has been sold out since Easter – earlier than ever before in the festival’s 80-year history. Nevertheless, tickets do occasionally go back on sale, so it’s worth checking the festival website regularly. Tickets are still available in all categories for all other events, including the opera in the Festspielhaus, the productions in the Werkstattbühne space and the Kornmarkt theatre as well as the orchestral concerts. A total of 228,000 tickets have been issued for the nearly 80 events at this year’s festival (including the dress rehearsal of La traviata).

(kb/bk)

* All heights refer to the average so-called “water level 2”, which corresponds to the Bregenz water level of 416 centimetres.