Bayreuth House it was not razed. Inside the building, which is once again used by a Jewish community as a synagogue, a plaque next to the Torah Shrine recalls the persecution and murder of Jews in the Shoah, which took the lives of at least 145 Jews in Bayreuth. During the Second World War, a subcamp of the Flossenbürg concentration camp was based in the town, in which prisoners had to participate in physical experiments for the V-2. Wieland Wagner, the grandson of the composer, Richard Wagner, was the deputy civilian director there in late 1944 and early April 1945 .
Presteigne Festival ‘Open Borders’ Festival, which commissioned twelve new works, one from each of the then European Community countries; 1993 Appointment of George Vass as Artistic Director. Presteigne Festival of Music and the Arts Limited registered as a charity; 1994 Establishment of annual composer-in-residence scheme; 1999 The Festival was short listed for one of the annual Royal Philharmonic Society awards(nominated again in 2003); 2006 Pēteris Vasks first non-British composer-in-residence; Baltic music feature; 2007 25th anniversary festival which included seventeen world premieres. Australian musician Peter Sculthorpe was composer-in-residence; 2008 New executive structure introduced, which enabled the Festival to become more flexible and professional