Bayreuth Festival 2025
Calendar 2025
24 July 2025 Festspiel Open Air (N.N.)
25 July 2025 Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Matthias Davids / Daniele Gatti)
26 July 2025 Das Rheingold (Schwarz / Young)
27 July 2025 Die Walküre (Schwarz / Young)
28 July 2025 Parsifal (Scheib / Heras-Casado)
29 July 2025 Siegfried (Schwarz / Young)
30 July 2025 Festspiel Open Air (N.N.)
31 July 2025 Götterdämmerung (Schwarz / Young)
01 August 2025 Lohengrin (Sharon / Thieleman)
02 August 2025 Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Matthias Davids / Daniele Gatti)
03 August 2025 Tristan und Isolde (Arnarsson / Bychkov)
04 August 2025 Lohengrin (Sharon / Thieleman)
05 August 2025 Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Matthias Davids / Daniele Gatti)
06 August 2025 Lohengrin (Sharon / Thieleman)
08 August 2025 Parsifal (Scheib / Heras-Casado)
09 August 2025 Lohengrin (Sharon / Thieleman)
10 August 2025 Tristan und Isolde (Arnarsson / Bychkov)
11 August 2025 Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Matthias Davids / Daniele Gatti)
13 August 2025 Tristan und Isolde (Arnarsson / Bychkov)
14 August 2025 Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Matthias Davids / Daniele Gatti)
15 August 2025 Das Rheingold (Schwarz / Young)
16 August 2025 Die Walküre (Schwarz / Young)
17 August 2025 Parsifal (Scheib / Heras-Casado)
18 August 2025 Siegfried (Schwarz / Young)
19 August 2025 Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Matthias Davids / Daniele Gatti)
20 August 2025 Götterdämmerung (Schwarz / Young)
22 August 2025 Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Matthias Davids / Daniele Gatti)
23 August 2025 Tristan und Isolde (Arnarsson / Bychkov)
24 August 2025 Parsifal (Scheib / Heras-Casado)
25 August 2025 Tristan und Isolde (Arnarsson / Bychkov)
26 August 2025 Parsifal (Scheib / Heras-Casado)
(For the 2026 Festival, see here...)
Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Matthias Davids / Daniele Gatti)
Michael Spyres as Walther and Christina Nilsson as Eva. Photo: Enrico Nawrath / Bayreuther Festspiele
Conductor: Daniele Gatti
Director: Matthias Davids
Stage design: Andrew D. Edwards
Costumes: Susanne Hubrich
Choral Conducting: Thomas Eitler-de Lint
Dramaturgy: Christoph Wagner-Trenkwitz
Lighting : Fabrice Kebour
Choreography: Simon Eichenberger
Hans Sachs: Georg Zeppenfeld
Veit Pogner: Jongmin Park
Sixtus Beckmesser: Michael Nagy
Fritz Kothner : Jordan Shanahan
Walther von Stolzing : Michael Spyres
David: Matthias Stier
Eva: Christina Nilsson
Magdalene: Christa Mayer
Ein Nachtwächter: Tobias Kehrer
Reviews
Sam Goodyear reviews Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg at the Bayreuth Festival, 2025 (Matthias Davids / Daniele Gatti)
Bernhard Neuhoff – BR Klassik: Excellent singers, pleasant direction: Matthias Davids presents Wagner's "Meistersinger" at the Bayreuth Festival as a humorous summer revue. And conductor Daniele Gatti seeks out the German profundity.
Micaela Baranello / Parterre Box: Matthias Davids's reactionary new production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg might be fun, but no one comes to Bayreuth for fun.
Michael Milenski - Opera Today
Frank Piontek - Der Opernfreund
Der Ring des Nibelungen
2025 is the last year of Valentin Schwarz' refreshing and interesting production of Der Ring des Nibelungen.
Das Rheingold
Conductor: Simone Young
Director: Valentin Schwarz
Stage design: Andrea Cozzi
Costumes: Andy Besuch
Dramaturgy: Konrad Kuhn
Lighting: Reinhard Traub / Nicol Hungsberg
Video: Luis August Krawen
Wotan: Tomasz Konieczny
Donner: Nicholas Brownlee
Froh: Mirko Roschkowski
Loge: Daniel Behle
Fricka: Christa Mayer
Freia: Christina Nilsson
Erda: Anna Kissjudit
Alberich: Olafur Sigurdarson
Mime: Ya-Chung Huang
Fasolt: Patrick Zielke
Fafner: Tobias Kehrer
Flosshilde: Marie Henriette Reinhold
Woglinde: Katharina Konradi
Wellgunde: Natalia Skrycka
Die Walküre
Conductor: Simone Young
Director: Valentin Schwarz
Stage design: Andrea Cozzi
Costumes: Andy Besuch
Dramaturgy: Konrad Kuhn
Lighting: Reinhard Traub / Nicol Hungsberg
Siegmund: Michael Spyres
Hunding: Vitalij Kowaljow
Wotan: Tomasz Konieczny
Sieglinde: Jennifer Holloway
Brünnhilde: Catherine Foster
Fricka: Christa Mayer
Gerhilde: Catharine Woodward
Ortlinde: Brit-Tone Müllertz
Schwertleite: Christa Mayer
Helmwige: Dorothea Herbert
Siegrune: Alexandra Ionis
Grimgerde: Marie Henriette Reinhold
Rossweisse: Noa Beinart
Siegfried
Conductor: Simone Young
Director: Valentin Schwarz
Stage design: Andrea Cozzi
Costumes: Andy Besuch
Dramaturgy: Konrad Kuhn
Lighting: Reinhard Traub / Nicol Hungsberg
Siegfried: Klaus Florian Vogt
Mime: Ya-Chung Huang
Der Wanderer: Tomasz Konieczny
Alberich: Olafur Sigurdarson
Fafner: Tobias Kehrer
Erda: Anna Kissjudit
Brünnhilde: Catherine Foster
Waldvogel: Victoria Randem
Götterdämmerung
Conductor: Simone Young
Director: Valentin Schwarz
Stage design: Andrea Cozzi
Costumes: Andy Besuch
Dramaturgy: Konrad Kuhn
Lighting: Reinhard Traub / Nicol Hungsberg
Video: Luis August Krawen
Choral Conducting: Thomas Eitler-de Lint
Siegfried: Klaus Florian Vogt
Gunther: Michael Kupfer-Radecky
Alberich: Olafur Sigurdarson
Hagen: Mika Kares
Brünnhilde: Catherine Foster
Gutrune: Gabriela Scherer
Waltraute: Christa Mayer
1. Norn: Noa Beinart
2. Norn: Alexandra Ionis
3. Norn: Dorothea Herbert
Flosshilde: Marie Henriette Reinhold
Woglinde: Katharina Konradi
Wellgunde: Natalia Skrycka
Tristan und Isolde
Conductor: Semyon Bychkov
Director: Thorleifur Örn Arnarsson
Stage design: Vytautas Narbutas
Costumes: Sibylle Wallum
Dramaturgy: Andri Hardmeier
Lighting: Sascha Zauner
Choral Conducting: Thomas Eitler-de Lint
Tristan: Andreas Schager
Marke: Günther Groissböck
Isolde: Camilla Nylund
Kurwenal: Jordan Shanahan
Melot: Alexander Grassauer
Brangäne: Ekaterina Gubanova
Ein Hirt: Daniel Jenz
Ein Steuermann: Lawson Anderson
Junger Seemann: Matthew Newlin
Parsifal
Conductor: Pablo Heras-Casado
Director: Jay Scheib
Stage design: Mimi Lien
Costumes: Meentje Nielsen
Lighting: Rainer Casper
Video: Joshua Higgason + AR Parsifal
Dramaturgy: Marlene Schleicher
Choral Conducting: Thomas Eitler-de Lint
Amfortas: Michael Volle
Titurel: Tobias Kehrer
Gurnemanz: Georg Zeppenfeld
Parsifal: Andreas Schager
Klingsor: Jordan Shanahan
Kundry: Elīna Garanča / Ekaterina Gubanova
1. Gralsritter: Daniel Jenz
2. Gralsritter: Tijl Faveyts
1. Knappe: Lavinia Dames
2. Knappe: Margaret Plummer
3. Knappe: Gideon Poppe
4. Knappe: Matthew Newlin
Klingsors Zaubermädchen: Evelin Novak, Catalina Bertucci, Margaret Plummer, Victoria Randem, Lavinia Dames, Marie Henriette Reinhold Altsolo: Marie Henriette Reinhold
Lohengrin
Conductor: Christian Thielemann
Director: Yuval Sharon
Stage design: Rosa Loy / Neo Rauch
Costumes: Rosa Loy / Neo Rauch
Choral Conducting: Thomas Eitler-de Lint
Heinrich der Vogler: Mika Kares
Lohengrin: Piotr Beczała
Elsa: Elza van den Heever
Friedrich von Telramund: Olafur Sigurdarson
Ortrud: Miina-Liisa Värelä
Der Heerrufer des Königs: Michael Kupfer-Radecky
1. Edler: Martin Koch
2. Edler: Gideon Poppe
3. Edler: Felix Pacher
4. Edler: Markus Suihkonen
2026: Rienzi and an AI Ring (!)
The 2026 Bayreuth Festival will feature revivals of Dmitri Tcherniakov’s Der fliegende Holländer and Jay Scheib’s Parsifal, but these are likely to be overshadowed by two major events: the Festival’s first-ever production of Rienzi and an entirely new staging of Der Ring des Nibelungen — created with the help of artificial intelligence.
Read more about the 2026 Festival at Bayreuth…
In 2024, for the first time in the history of the Bayreuth Festival, there were more female than male conductors in the pit. In 2024, Simone Young conducted the Ring. The lineup that year also included Oksana Lyniv (Der fliegende Holländer), Nathalie Stutzmann (Tannhäuser), Semyon Bychkov (Tristan und Isolde), and Pablo Heras-Casado (Parsifal), and Simone Young (Der Ring des Nibelungen).
Photo: Per-Erik Skramstad
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)
