During a benefit concert on August 4, 2018, the brass and percussionists of the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra collected 15,000€. This amount was donated in the form of a large cheque to the “SOS Kinderdorf” Oberpfalz in Immenreuth. The money will be used to extend one of the Children’s Village family homes and will be invested in facilities as well as toys and beds for the children.

The first part of the concert featured arrangements of well-known motifs from various operas by Wagner. In addition to the “Meistersinger”, “Tristan” and “Holländer”, chamber music was played from the individual ensembles. After the intermission, the musicians, under the direction of festival conductor Axel Kober, honored the legendary work “West Side Story” by Leonard Bernstein. The American composer, pianist and conductor would have been 100 years old on August 25.

The benefit concert was realized and supported by Musica Bayreuth.