Bregenz Festival Foundation Media Announcement

Bregenz, 25.4.17. The board of the Bregenz Festival Foundation, chaired by festival president Hans-Peter Metzler, has decided unanimously to extend artistic director Elisabeth Sobotka's contract until September 2022. The Vienna-born cultural manager Sobotka has been in charge of programming at Bregenz Festival since the 2015 season; she was appointed as David Pountney's successor in July 2012. Her previous contract with the festival was due to terminate in 2019.

The festival council also decided today to confirm the festival board in its current membership and to extend its term by another five years. The vote was unanimous. Thus Hans-Peter Metzler remains president until spring 2022. The other board members confirmed in office are Verena Brunner-Loss (vice-president), Wilhelm Muzyczyn (vice-president), Michael Grahammer and Sabine Haag.

"I am delighted not only by the festival council's clear vote of confidence in myself and in the board, but also by knowing that the very successful artistic director Elisabeth Sobotka will remain at the helm of our equally successful Bregenz Festival for the coming five years. My thanks go to everyone involved in the various bodies and at the Festspielhaus both on stage and backstage," says festival president Hans-Peter Metzler.

"The artistic atmosphere at Bregenz Festival is unique. I am very happy to be able to continue working in this fantastic and inspiring environment for another five years and to realise creative ideas together with the whole team," says Elisabeth Sobotka.

The Bregenz Festival Foundation, established in 2002, is the one hundred percent shareholder in the private limited company Bregenzer Festspiele GmbH, organiser of the annual summer Bregenz Festival. The commercial director is Michael Diem, the artistic director Elisabeth Sobotka. The founders are the Friends of Bregenz Festival, the Republic of Austria, the federal state of Vorarlberg and the town of Bregenz. Each founder has two positions on the festival council which appoints the members of the board. The board for its part appoints a chairman or -woman, the festival president.

The 2017 Bregenz Festival runs from 19 July to 20 August. Tickets can be booked online at www.bregenzerfestspiele.com or over the phone on 0043 5574 4076.

Reminder: a public preview of the stage set for Carmen takes place today at 5:30 p.m. on the lake stage.

_(ar)