Bayreuth Festival named by Bavaria's culture minister, Thomas Goppel, to take over the Festival. They were to take up their duties immediately, since their father had announced his retirement at the conclusion of the 2008 Festival. They were chosen ahead of the pair of their cousin, Nike Wagner, and Gerard Mortier, who had placed a late bid for the directorship on 24 August. The conductor Christian Thielemann has agreed to act as chief adviser to the new directors, effectively taking the role of music director of the Festival. The festival draws thousands of Wagner fans to Bayreuth every summer. It is very
Hermann Wagner of Merit" of the Federal Republic of Germany. He has been an honorary member of the German Society of Immunology since 2007. He received the "Bavarian Order of Merit" in 2007. He is member of the Bavarian Academy of Sciences and the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. In 2009 he was Fellow of the A. Krupp Science Foundation in Greifswald/Baltic Sea, and in 2012 guest professor at the University of Marburg. Since 2011 he is TUM-Emeritus of Excellence. In 2013 he was awarded an honorary degree by the University of Bonn. Hermann Wagner Hermann Wagner (born May 20, 1941) is