Bayreuth Festival
Bayreuth Festival 2027
LOHENGRIN
New production
Musical direction: Tarmo Peltokoski
Stage direction: Ilaria Lanzino
Set design: Martin Hickmann
Costume design: Vanessa Rust
King Henry: Georg Zeppenfeld
Lohengrin: Michael Spyres
Elsa of Brabant: Elsa Dreisig
Friedrich von Telramund: Jordan Shanahan
Ortrud: Judit Kutasi
PARSIFAL
New production
Musical direction: Christian Thielemann
Stage direction: Ersan Mondtag
Set and costume design: Neo Rauch & Rosa Loy
Amfortas: Michael Volle
Gurnemanz: Mika Kares
Parsifal: Piotr Beczała / Christopher Sokolowski
Kundry: Michèle Losier
DIE MEISTERSINGER VON NÜRNBERG
Revival
Musical direction: Simone Young
Stage direction: Matthias Davids
Set design: Andrew D. Edwards
Costume design: Susanne Hubrich
Hans Sachs: Michael Volle
Veit Pogner: Georg Zeppenfeld
Sixtus Beckmesser: Michael Nagy
Walther von Stolzing: Klaus Florian Vogt
David: Sebastian Kohlhepp
Eva: Vida Miknevičiūtė
TANNHÄUSER AND THE SINGERS’ CONTEST AT WARTBURG
Revival
Musical direction: Thomas Guggeis
Stage direction: Tobias Kratzer
Set and costume design: Rainer Sellmaier
Hermann, Landgrave: Tareq Nazmi
Tannhäuser: Klaus Florian Vogt
Elisabeth: Vida Miknevičiūtė
2026
The 2026 Bayreuth Festival presented performances of Rienzi, Der fliegende Holländer, Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Siegfried, Götterdämmerung, and Parsifal. In addition, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, conducted by Christian Thielemann and featuring Elza van den Heever, Christa Mayer, Piotr Beczała, and Georg Zeppenfeld) was performed. The program also included the stage work Brünnhilde brennt (at Friedrichsforum Bayreuth), and several open-air concerts.
Rienzi 2026
Rienzi, Wagner’s third opera, was once his greatest success. The story of the Roman tribune intertwines rise and fall, private tragedy and public vision. This rarely performed work emerges as a link between grand opéra and music drama, with orchestral force and emotional depth.
Conductor: Nathalie Stutzmann
Director: Alexandra Szemerédy, Magdolna Parditka
Stage design: Alexandra Szemerédy, Magdolna Parditka
Costumes: Alexandra Szemerédy, Magdolna Parditka
Dramaturgy: Markus Kiesel
Choral Conducting: Thomas Eitler-de Lint
Cola Rienzi, päpstlicher Notar: Andreas Schager
Irene, seine Schwester: Gabriela Scherer
Steffano Colonna, Haupt der Familie Colonna: Andreas Bauer Kanabas
Adriano, sein Sohn: Jennifer Holloway
Paolo Orsini, Haupt der Familie Orsini: Michael Nagy
Baroncelli: Matthias Stier
Cecco del Vecchio: Michael Kupfer-Radecky
Photo: Per-Erik Skramstad
Lohengrin Act 1 Prelude Timings
| 7’31” | Arturo Toscanini, NBC Symphony, 29 December 1951 |
| 7'42" | Erich Leinsdorf, Metropolitan, 2 January 1943 (CD) |
| 7’44” | Fritz Reiner, Pittsburgh Symphony, 1941 |
| 7’53” | Arturo Toscanini, NBC Symphony, 17 March + 6 May 1941 |
| 8’04” | Artur Bodanzky, Berlin State Opera Orchestra, 1927 |
| 8’05” | Arturo Toscanini, NBC Symphony, 1954 |
| 8'07” | Andris Nelsons, Bayreuth Festival, 2011 |
| 8’14” | Bruno Walter, New York Philharmonic, 1944 |
| 8’18” | Rafael Kubelik, Symphonieorch. des Bayerischen Rundfunks, 1971 |
| 8’19” | Otto Klemperer, Budapest, 1948 |
| 8'22" | Sir Adrian Boult, New Philharmonia Orchestra, 1958 (Seraphim) |
| 8'27" | Rudolf Kempe, Wiener Philharmoniker 1962-63 (CD) |
| 8’30” | Marek Janowski, Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin |
| 8’30” | Bruno Walter, Columbia Symphony, 1959 |
| 8’30” | Fritz Reiner, Chicago Symphony, 1960 |
| 8’31” | Arturo Toscanini, NBC Symphony, 22 October 1951 |
| 8’33” | Fritz Busch, Buenos Aires, 1936 |
| 8’35” | Arturo Toscanini, New York Philharmonic,1936 |
| 8'36" | André Cluytens, Bayreuth, 23 July, 1958 (CD) |
| 8’36” | Fritz Busch, New York, 1945 |
| 8'39" | Kent Nagano, Baden-Baden, 2006 (DVD) |
| 8’45” | Fritz Busch, New York, 1947 |
| 8'50" | Sebastian Weigle, Gran Teatre del Liceu, Barcelona, 2006 (DVD) |
| 8’50” | Arturo Toscanini, NBC Symphony, 22 February 1941 |
| 9’01” | Wilhelm Furtwängler, Lucerne, 1949 |
| 9'04" | Peter Schneider, Bayreuth Festival, 1990 (DVD) |
| 9’05” | Arturo Toscanini, NBC Symphony, 1938 |
| 9’05” | Wilhelm Furtwängler, Lucerne, 1947 |
| 9’24” | Arturo Toscanini, La Scala Orchestra, 1946 |
| 9’26” | Fritz Reiner, Philadelphia Orchestra, 1932 |
| 9’35” | Wilhelm Furtwängler, Berlin, 1930 |
| 9’45” | Erich Kleiber, Copenhagen, 1953 |
| 9’45” | Karl Böhm, Vienna, 1980 |
| 9’48” | Wilhelm Furtwängler, Vienna, 1954 |
| 9’52” | Otto Klemperer, Philharmonia, 1960 |
| 9’56” | Karl Böhm,Vienna, 1965 |
| 10’02” | Artur Bodanzky, New York, 1935 |
| 10'10" | Joseph Keilberth, Bayreuth Festival, 1953 (CD) |
Sources: Jonathan Brown: Great Wagner Conductors, Per-Erik Skramstad
Parsifal (complete) timings
| 3.38 | Pierre Boulez, Bayreuth 1970 |
| 3.44 | Clemens Krauss, Bayreuth 1953 (Jonathan Brown has 3.52) |
| 3.49 | Pierre Boulez, Bayreuth 1966 |
| 3.55 | Hartmut Haenchen, Copenhagen 22 March 2012 |
| 3.58 | Wilhelm Furtwängler, Milano 1951 |
| 4.02 | Christian Thielemann, recorded at Staatsoper, Wien in June 2005 (Deutsche Grammophon) |
| 4.04 | Herman Levi, Bayreuth 1882 |
| 4.08 | Michael Balling, Bayreuth 1904 |
| 4.10 | Hans Knappertsbusch, Bayreuth 1962 |
| 4.12 | Wilhelm Furtwängler Bayreuth 1936 |
| 4.15 | Felix Mottl, Bayreuth 1888 |
| 4.17 | Herbert von Karajan (1981, Deutsche Grammophon) |
| 4.19 | Anton Seidl, Bayreuth 1897 |
| 4.22 | Siegfried Wagner, Bayreuth 1909 |
| 4.23 | Fischer, Bayreuth 1882 |
| 4.23 | Hans Knappertsbusch, Bayreuth 1952 |
| 4.25 | Armin Jordan (Hans-Jürgen Syberberg's Parsifal film, 1982) (according to the cover) |
| 4.27 | Karl Muck, Bayreuth 1901 |
| 4.28 | Hans Knappertsbusch, Bayreuth 1954 |
| 4.29 | Kaehler, Bayreuth 1924 |
| 4.33 | Hans Knappertsbusch, Bayreuth 1951 |
| 4.33 | James Levine, Bayreuth 1990 |
| 4.42 | Arturo Toscanini, Bayreuth 1931 |
Sources: Jonathan Brown (Great Wagner Conductors), Derrick Everett, Per-Erik Skramstad, Hartmut Haenchen.
"The Master has already composed Parsifal to be very slow, so one doesn't need to add to this by also conducting it slowly." (Richard Strauss to the orchestra during rehearsals)
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Act 1 Vorspiel
| 07.18 | Leo Blech, Musikstadt Berlin Tonfilm 1929 |
| 08.XX | Richard Wagner, concert in Mannheim, 20.12.1871 (a few seconds more than 8 minutes, according to Richard Pohl) |
| 08.06 | Albert Coates, London, 1921 |
| 08.18 | Fritz Reiner, Pittsburgh, 1941 |
| 08.20 | Karl Muck, Berlin State Opera, 1927 |
| 08.28 | Karl Böhm, New York, 1959 |
| 08.30 | Hans Knappertsbusch, München, 1955 |
| 08.31 | Albert Coates, London, 1926 |
| 08.36 | Felix Weingartner, Wien, 1935 |
| 08.38 | Wilhelm Furtwängler, Berliner Philharmoniker, AEG Worker Concert, 26.02.1942 |
| 08.41 | Arturo Toscanini, NBC Symphony, 1946 |
| 08.42 | Fritz Reiner. New York, 1938 |
| 08.42 | Bruno Walter, New York, 1946 |
| 08.43 | Artur Bodanzky, New York, 1936 |
| 08.45 | Karl Böhm, Toronto Symphony, 1965 |
| 08.47 | Karl Böhm, Sächsische Staatskapelle, 1939 |
| 08.50 | Bruno Walter, Symphony Orchestra, 1930 |
| 08.53 | Artur Bodanzky, Berliner Staatsoper Orchester, 10.9.1927 |
| 08.53 | Hans Knappertsbusch, Wien, 1950 |
| 08.54 | Arturo Toscanini, NBC Symphony, 1954 |
| 08.54 | Karl Böhm, Bayreuth, 1964 |
| 08.55 | Arturo Toscanini, Salzburg, 1936 |
| 08.58 | Arturo Toscanini, La Scala, 1952 |
| 09.00 | Hans Richter, London, 1879 |
| 09.00 | Gustav Mahler, Brooklyn, New York, 1910 |
| 09.11 | George Solti, Vienna Philharmonic (3.10.1994, Suntory hall, Tokyo) |
| 09.11 | Herbert von Karajan, Bayreuth Festival 1951 |
| 09.24 | Herbert von Karajan, Dresden |
| 09.37 | Hans Knappertsbusch (N/A) |
| 09.49 | Christian Thielemann, recorded at Schloss Herrenchiemsee, Münchner Philharmoniker |
| 09.53 | Alain Altinoglu, Frankfurt Radio Symphony (20.3.2022) |
| 10.55 | Otto Klemperer, Philharmonia |
Sources: Jonathan Brown (Great Wagner Conductors), Per-Erik Skramstad
“Wagner says that the Meistersinger prelude will without exception be taken too slowly. It should be a strong march tempo.” (Felix Mottl, Diary, 26.5.1876)
