Vox populi
In Bayreuth, a confident Magnus Vigilius and luminous Jennifer Holloway attempt to elevate Wagner’s populist Rienzi.
bayreuth
This is what trauma looks like
Valentin Schwarz‘s and Simone Young‘s Ring, in its final outing at Bayreuth, is dramaturgically messy and musically excellent.
Lohengrin
A performance recorded earlier today at the Bayreuth Festival
Götterdämmerung
The final installment of the 2025 Ring from Bayreuth
Parsifal
A performance recorded earlier today at the Bayreuth Festival
Sing of happy, not sad
Matthias Davids‘s reactionary new production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg might be fun, but no one comes to Bayreuth for fun.
Siegfried
The third installment of the 2025 Ring from Bayreuth
Die Walküre
A slightly delayed broadcast of the second installment of this year’s Ring from Bayreuth
Das Rheingold
A live broadcast of the first installment of this summer’s Ring from Bayreuth
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
A live broadcast of the opening of the 2025 Bayreuth Festival
Fjord model T
Dmitri Tcherniakov’s interpretation of Wagner’s Der Fliegende Höllander presents an engrossing character study about Senta and the Dutchman’s struggles against their insular community’s stifling conformism.
Assault and battery
Jay Scheib’s Augmented-Reality Parsifal is a cautionary reminder that technological innovation shouldn’t absolve directors from the exacting work of deriving intelligent and fascinating theater from the source material.
Haus of eternal return
In Nike Wagner’s essay “The Sounding Silence,” the German dramaturge argues that “the longing for deathrepresents the central motif” of her great-grandfather’s opera Tristan und Isolde.
Geschmack ist king
At the heart of Tobias Kratzer’s incisively rollicking production of Tannhäuser lies a metanarrative that maps Wagner’s early political and artistic challenges onto its hero’s philosophical struggles.
Götterdämmerung
Simone Young leads the final 2024 Bayreuth Ring broadcast with Klaus Florian Vogt, Olafur Sigurdarson, Catherine Foster, Michael Kupfer-Radecky, Mika Kares, and Gabriela Scherer
Der fliegende Holländer
Oksana Lyniv conducts Michael Volle, Elisabeth Teige, Georg Zeppenfeld, Eric Cutler, Nadine Weissmann, and Matthew Newlin in a live broadcast from Bayreuth
Siegfried
Simone Young leads Florian Vogt, Tomasz Konieczny, Olafur Sigurdarson, Catherine Foster, Okka von der Damerau, and Slávka Zámecniková in a broadcast of this year’s Bayreuth Ring
Die Walküre
Simone Young is back at it with Michael Spyres, Vida Mikneviciute, Tomasz Konieczny, Catherine Foster, Georg Zeppenfeld, and Christa Mayer in a slightly delayed broadcast from Bayreuth
Das Rheingold
Simone Young conducts Tomasz Konieczny, Olafur Sigurdarson, John Daszak, Christa Mayer, Christina Nilsson, Okka von der Damerau, and Ya-Chung Huang in a live broadcast from the 2024 Bayreuther Festpiele
Tannhäuser
The 2024 Bayreuther Festpiele continues with Nathalie Stutzman conducting Klaus Florian Vogt, Günther Groissböck, Elisabeth Teige, Irene Roberts, Markus Eiche, and Siyabonga Maqungo in a slightly delayed broadcast from the Grünen Hügel
Tristan und Isolde
Semyon Bychkov conducts the opening performance of the 2024 Bayreuther Festpiele with Andreas Schager, Camilla Nylund, Günther Groissböck, Christa Mayer, Olafur Sigurdarson, and Birger Radde
Parsifal
Pablo Heras-Casado conducts Andreas Schager, Georg Zeppenfeld, Elina Garanca, Derek Welton, and Jordan Shanahan in a recording from this summer’s Bayreuth Festival.
Das Rheingold
A live broadcast as the Bayreuth Festival launches a new Ring cycle.
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg
From the 2017 Bayreuth Festival, Barrie Kosky’s Die Meistersinger, conducted by Philippe Jordan.
I’ll take the fall
The days are getting shorter, but you can keep the prattle going this fall’s Talk of the Town! You will, you can, you must join in the discussion about: Great mezzo soprano performances (October),
Gained in translation (November), Teleport me back to… (December).
Win a Free Ticket to Opening Night at the Met!
Quinn Kelsey and Lise Davidsen star in the Met's new Macbeth. We're giving away one ticket, so screw your courage to the sticking place and enter now!
