Nike Wagner and Klaus Zehelein, director of the Stuttgart State Opera, will both apply to be co-directors of the Richard Wagner Festival in Bayreuth, according to a report on Bavarian radio.

The announcement follows vicious infighting among the Wagner clan. Nike Wagner's cousin Eva-Pasquier Wagner rejected the position after a dispute with her father.

Infighting

The cousin was originally chosen to direct the festival but recently decided that she no longer wanted the post.

Eva-Pasquier Wagner said she would do it only if the current director - her estranged father Wolfgang Wagner - stepped down.

Wolfgang Wagner, the grandson of Richard Wagner, has been festival organiser since 1973 and backed his wife Gudrun as his eventual successor.

After the board of the foundation that oversees the festival named his daughter as his replacement, he said that he would not leave without a fuss.

Nike Wagner previously applied for the position in tandem with Elmar Weingarten, director of the Berlin Philharmonic.