Nike Wagner

Nike Wagner (born 9 June 1945) is a German dramaturge, arts administrator and author. She directed the festival , and has been the director of the Beethovenfest from 2014. The daughter of Wieland Wagner, she is a great-granddaughter of Richard Wagner, and a great-great‑granddaughter of Franz Liszt. She devoted books to the Wagner family and its cultural and political influence.

Career Wagner was born in Überlingen on Lake Constance in Germany, the daughter of Wieland Wagner and the choreographer Gertrud Reissinger. Her paternal great-grandfather was Richard Wagner, and she is also the great-great‑granddaughter of Franz Liszt.

She grew up in Wahnfried, Bayreuth, until her father's death in 1966, whereupon her uncle Wolfgang Wagner had the house measured and asked her widowed mother to pay rent. She studied musicology, literature and theatre in Berlin, In 2004, Wagner became the director of the , which she named Pèlerinages in honour of Liszt. She stood down from the post in September 2013.

In 2013 she was named the director of the Beethovenfest, and assumed this post in January 2014. She has recognized Wagner's relation to Beethoven, who modeled his first composition on Beethoven's works.

Other activities Bonner Akademie für Forschung und Lehre praktischer Politik (BAPP), Member of the Board of Trustees Deutsche Bank, Member of the Advisory Board (since 2017) Goethe Institute, Member of the Committee for the Goethe Medal

Selected publications Nike Wagner, et al., Mann, sei nicht so hysterisch (Munich, Matthes und Seitz, 1991). Nike Wagner, Wagner-Theater (Frankfurt am Main, Insel-Verlag, 1998). Nike Wagner, Traumtheater: Szenarien der Moderne (Frankfurt am Main, Insel-Verlag, 2001).

Awards 1999: member of the Deutsche Akademie für Sprache und Dichtung member of the Literaturklasse of the Sächsische Akademie der Künste 2012: Honorary professor at the 2013: Order of Merit of the Free State of Thuringia 2022 Honorary doctorate of the University of Music Franz Liszt Weimar