Bayreuth Festival and foreign singers, long after they had been banned from all other venues across Germany (including heldentenor Max Lorenz, married to a well-known Jewish woman). Winifred's influence with Hitler was so strong that Hitler even wrote a letter (at her behest) to anti-fascist Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini, begging him to lead the festival. Toscanini refused. From 1933 to 1942, the festival was conducted principally by Karl Elmendorff. It was under the Third Reich that the festival made its first break from tradition, abandoning the deteriorating 19th century sets created by Richard Wagner. Many protested at the changes, including prominent conductors
London Handel Festival London Handel Festival The London Handel Festival is an annual music festival centred on the compositions of George Frideric Handel. The festival also features other composers. It includes a Handel Singing Competition. It was founded by Denys Darlow, who was succeeded as musical director in 1999 by Laurence Cummings. Since 2011 Cummings has combined his work in London with the artistic directorship of the Göttingen International Handel Festival in Germany. A regular venue for concerts is the church the composer attended, St George's, Hanover Square, near his home on Brook Street. The original organ was completed in 1725, but although