Female conductor takes baton at Germany's Bayreuth Festival for first time in 145 years

For 145 years the works of Richard Wagner have been performed at the venerable Bayreuth Festival in Bavaria.

But for the first time this year a female conductor has been chosen to wield the baton.

Oksana Lyniv, 43, opened proceedings on Sunday in front of an audience including German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Ukrainian-born Ms Lyniv said she had received great support ahead of her historic performance.

"In the last 15 years, everything has changed a lot. I don’t feel any hostility," she said before conducting "Der Fliegende Holländer".

"In fact, just the opposite, there is a lot of interest and support: from the public, from orchestras, from managers and from the critics.

"It's not about what I wear, or how I hit, it's just about whether it works or not, just hearing it."

Ms Lyniv, who grew up in a family of musicians, told German media she had never wanted to "just sing or play" and instead dreamed of "building the really big forms like an architect, to create a synthesis".

She said: "Conducting is also about philosophy, literature, meaning, history."

Ms Merkel has been a frequent guest at the festival, which was founded by Wagner.

The prestigious event was cancelled last year due to coronavirus restrictions.

This year, only 911 people are allowed to attend, less than half the usual audience of 2,000.

Only those who have tested negative, have been completely vaccinated, or have recovered, are allowed to enter the opera house, and all must wear masks.

Ms Lyniv told the New York Times that Senta, heroine of the opera she was conducting, was a "prototype of the modern woman."

The conductor said: "She doesn’t want to do what her father wants her to do, she has her own ideas. That was very unusual in the 19th Century.

"In his operas Wagner went on to create other women like this, women who are gradually being emancipated, who are acting on their own."

She said it was "wonderful" to conduct at the festival, adding: "It is incomparable to be able to make music in this magical place."

In 2019 the black British drag artist Le Gateau Chocolat performed in Wagner’s Tannhäuser opera on the opening night of the festival, before being booed by a group in the audience which was dubbed the "Wagner ultras" by the German media.