The Wagner Festival at Bayreuth, Germany, has two new CEOs. The foundation that controls the festival announced on Monday that it was handing the directorship to half-sisters Eva Wagner-Pasquier and Katharina Wagner. Their father, 89-year-old Wolfgang Wagner, is retiring.

The decision went against their cousin Nike Wagner and Gerard Mortier, the general director of the New York City Opera, who had formed a rival team. Since its establishment in 1876, the Bayreuth Festival has always been managed by a member of the Wagner family.

The 2008 festival closed last week. It will be eight years before the half-sisters’ joint directorship fully bears fruit, since the festival is already programmed through 2015.