Into the wild green yonder Into the wild green yonder

Mark your calendars and set your alarm clocks, cher public, for 13 October 2013 at 18:00 CEST (that is, 2:00 PM in New York City) when individual tickets for the 2014 Bayreuth Festival will go on sale online.

on September 01, 2013 at 8:58 AM
Ring?  What ring? Ring?  What ring?

All right, I admit it; I finally broke down and read the program notes for the Ring in the Bayreuth program book.

on August 29, 2013 at 10:19 PM
The Platz thickens The Platz thickens

I’m told that the public were, if hardly enthusiastic, at least ambivalent toward the Frank Castorf Ring up until the first performance of Siegfried, at which point things got really ugly and the booing started in earnest.

on August 26, 2013 at 6:18 AM
Flame off Flame off

First things first: working from the limited evidence of half or less than half of Frank Castorf’s production of the Ring, I don’t see any evidence of contempt for the audience or whatever you want to call it.

on August 24, 2013 at 2:39 AM
First impressions First impressions

There are some productions that “introduce” themselves quite clearly early on: for example, the Patrice Chereau Ring puts it cards on the table very frankly with the image of the hydroelectric dam populated by grisette Rhinedaughters.

on August 23, 2013 at 8:26 AM
Here in Bayreuth Here in Bayreuth

Our Own JJ (right) reports he is ready and relatively un-jetlagged for Das Rheingold tonight at Bayreuth. He'll have comments afterward.

on August 22, 2013 at 6:10 AM
Uh, no, they’re saying “Boo-runnhilde, Boo-runnhilde” Uh, no, they’re saying “Boo-runnhilde, Boo-runnhilde”

If the Frank Castorf production of the Ring at Bayreuth accomplished nothing else, it will be the popularization in classical music circles of the term “boovation.”

on August 01, 2013 at 12:25 PM
Sail away Sail away

Opening the 2013 Bayreuth Festival today, Der Fliegende Holländer conducted by Christian Thielemann (not pictured).

on July 25, 2013 at 7:36 AM
Get your kicks on Route Sechsundsechzig Get your kicks on Route Sechsundsechzig

Revealed: first images of Frank Castorf‘s production of the Ring, launching Friday at Bayreuth.

on July 23, 2013 at 5:26 PM
Pardon the expression, but this is a steal Pardon the expression, but this is a steal

The complete recording of Der Ring des Nibelungen conducted by Christian Thielemann at the Bayreuth Festival is now on sale for only $5.99. And, no, I am not making this up.

on July 04, 2013 at 11:42 AM
Highlight of the gods Highlight of the gods

Our JJ’s recent reminiscences over at WQXR about the whopping cost of a Ring recording back in the Mad Men era seemed all the more startling to La Cieca when she took a gander at a “new” live Ring offered by our friends at Opera Depot.

on June 04, 2013 at 12:34 AM
Mousecapades Mousecapades

Our Own JJ (not pictured) just came running into the parterre offices wild-eyed with excitement.

on March 27, 2013 at 4:48 PM
Weia! Waga! Woge, du Web! Weia! Waga! Woge, du Web!

The Bayreuth Festival is trying something new and outreachy this season.

on September 28, 2012 at 12:28 PM
Wer nicht mit dem Woolfe heult Wer nicht mit dem Woolfe heult

Zachary Woolfe (not pictured) makes his way to Bayreuth to try to unravel the Evgeny Nikitin mystery.

on July 26, 2012 at 5:50 PM
Flying down to Bayreuth Flying down to Bayreuth

The opening performance of the already-notorious 2012 Bayreuth Festival, Der Fliegende Holländer, begins at noon today EDT and is relayed on a number of web-available radio stations.

on July 25, 2012 at 10:19 AM
Murder ink Murder ink

Evgeny Nikitin has withdrawn from the Bayreuth Festival’s new production of Der Fliegende Holländer after a German television program revealed the bass-baritone has a swastika tattoo.

on July 21, 2012 at 10:34 AM
Rodent show Rodent show

This Hans Neuenfels staging for the Bayreuth Festival caused quite a stir at its 2010 premiere, but now, with time and distance, how radical is the production?

on July 19, 2012 at 1:22 PM

“Pathos and the high tone is not his thing,” helpfully explains Google Translate in reference to “Provokateur” Frank Castorf, who has been selected to direct the Ring at Bayreuth in 2013, celebrating the 200th anniversary of Richard Wagner’s birth. [Berliner Morgenpost]

on October 27, 2011 at 9:22 AM

Stefan Herheim’s production of Parsifal for Bayreuth is the regie Holy Grail—a production that completely fulfills the promise and purpose of Regietheater.

on September 07, 2011 at 9:55 AM

Fertilization; birth; growth; decay. Eating; digestion; defecation; fermentation; biogas recovery; food production. Wagner’s Tannhäuser is a meditation on the relentless, repetition of cycles that define our existence and man’s insistence on the possibility salvation despite all the biochemical evidence to the contrary.

on August 29, 2011 at 9:10 PM

La Cieca (not pictured) dons her “early adopter” hat once again as she prepares to watch the live telecast of Lohengrin from the Bayreuth Festival on Sunday. It’s an online pay-per-view event (a ticket is €14.90), though the presenters promise it can alternatively be watched “on demand at a time of your own choice between…

on August 11, 2011 at 11:34 PM

Austrian filmmaker Michael Haneke is the frontrunner to direct the 2013 Bayreuth Ring, Handelsblatt reports.  (If the name sounds familiar, it may be because Haneke was announced to direct Cosi fan tutte at NYCO during the 2012 season projected by Gerard Mortier.) Dark horses for the prestigious Green Hill gig include Florian Henckel von Donnersmarck…

on April 21, 2011 at 10:43 AM

You have spoken, parterrriani, and your message is loud and clear: Calixto Bieito should be tapped to direct the 2013 Bayreuth production of Der Ring des Nibelungen (seen here in artist’s conception.)

on April 08, 2011 at 12:52 PM

And so Wim Wenders will not be directing the bicentennial Bayreuth Ring cycle in 2013, in 3D or any other kind of D. In that case, who should be chosen to wrap his or her Regie around this massively high-profile project? There’s a poll right after the jump. [Stern]

on April 06, 2011 at 10:27 AM