Bayreuth, Germany

THE Bayreuth Festival, one of the hottest tickets in the world of opera, opened with a well-received new production of Richard Wagner's opera Tristan and Isolde on Saturday, which also won praise from German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

The dark and pessimistic new reading of one of Wagner's best-loved works by the composer's 37-year-old great-granddaughter, Katharina Wagner, was greeted with cheers and generous applause at the end of the six-hour performance. Mrs Merkel said she had "liked it very much".