A power outage forced the cancellation of the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra’s concert at the Teatro de la Maestranza in Seville on Wednesday evening, bringing an abrupt end to the opening event of the theatre’s 2026/27 season.
The interruption occurred approximately 40 minutes after the concert began, according to the Teatro de la Maestranza. The theatre initially halted the performance before ultimately cancelling it when the electricity supply could not be restored.
Local newspaper Diario de Sevilla reported that the blackout struck during the third work on the programme, leaving the auditorium in darkness. The orchestra’s approximately 90 musicians remained on stage for several minutes while conductor Pablo Heras-Casado briefly left the podium.
The audience and musicians were subsequently evacuated using the theatre’s emergency lighting and, in some cases, lights from spectators’ mobile phones. They remained outside the building for close to an hour while efforts were made to resolve the problem.
According to information provided by electricity company Endesa to Diario de Sevilla, the outage originated in a fault affecting the transformer installation serving the theatre.
The concert was a particularly significant occasion for the Maestranza, marking the opening of its new season and forming part of the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra’s exceptional Spanish tour celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Bayreuth Festival.
Heras-Casado was conducting a Wagner programme drawn from Der Ring des Nibelungen, with Catherine Foster as Brünnhilde, Klaus Florian Vogt as Siegmund and Siegfried, and Nicholas Brownlee as Wotan.
The Spanish tour began at Barcelona’s Palau de la Música Catalana and also includes Santander, Madrid and Valencia. Following the interrupted Seville performance, the orchestra is scheduled to appear at Madrid’s Teatro Real on 3 September and Valencia’s Palau de la Música on 6 September.
In an update issued on 3 September, the Teatro de la Maestranza said it was assessing possible solutions for those affected by the cancellation and asked ticket holders not to take any action for the time being.
Read the Teatro de la Maestranza’s latest statement here.Subscribe to our newsletter