The music of American composer Gabriella Smith is indelibly linked to nature, marvelling at its beauty, terror and joy.

EPSG:4326

Sibelius Symphony No. 5

The Bridgewater Hall

With an evening brimming with sonic magic and visionary power, Marie Jacquot celebrates her inaugural concert as the new chief conductor of the WDR Symphony Orchestra. From the ethereal prelude to Wagner's opera "Lohengrin," the program spans Chopin's Piano Concerto in F minor to the evocative tone poems of the late Romantic era: "Andromède" by the Irish-French composer Augusta Holmès and "Le poème de l'extase" by the Russian composer Alexander Scriabin. Let yourself be captivated by this dramatic program – and experience the exceptional pianist Yulianna Avdeeva, a former winner of the prestigious Warsaw Chopin Competition.

Departure - Marie Jacquot & Yulianna Avdeeva

Cologne Philharmonie

Conductor Pietari Inkinen produced absolutely enchanting sounds from the Danish Radio Symphony Orchestra when he conducted Mahler's Symphony No. 3 at short notice in 2024. Now he returns with a composer even closer to his heart: Wagner.

Inkinen & Wagner

DR Koncerthuset

Daniele Rustioni, Conductor Emeritus of the Opéra de Lyon and new Principal Guest Conductor of the Metropolitan Opera, is opening the season with a majestic blend of symphony and opera, presenting works by Richard Wagner, both as a composer and inspiration source, and the epitome of German Romanticism, Anton Bruckner.

Wagner / Bruckner

Opéra National De Lyon

Forget everything you think you know about Wagner! Kent Nagano, the Dresden Festival Orchestra, and Concerto Köln are setting new standards with their performance of the Ring cycle. For the first time ever, this monumental project is being heard in a historically informed interpretation. Just as in Wagner’s own day, the string players use gut strings; the wind instruments are reconstructed based on 19th-century models; the orchestra’s tuning is lower; and the text is at times declaimed rather than traditionally “sung.” Suddenly everything becomes intelligible — and at times it almost recalls the delivery of art song. Working with an international research team, Nagano has brought surprising insights to light. The result is striking. “Light and airy” is how Jan Brachmann described this Wagner in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung; in particular, the winds impress “with sharper definition in their individual colors: they creak, belch, and grunt with a kind of unruly physicality.” With Götterdämmerung, the Ring comes full circle this summer. And once more we have the chance to experience Wagner’s music as he himself most likely heard it.

Dresden Festival Orchestra | Concerto Köln | Dresden Festival Choir of the Richard Wagner Academy | Kent Nagano | Soloists

KKL Luzern Concert Hall

Only a few days before the premiere of the opera Mittwoch aus Licht, Titus Engel devotes himself in his first concert as conductor in residence with the Orchestra of the Deutsche Oper Berlin to a scene from another day of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s week-long opera cycle – the second act of Donnerstag aus Licht. The purely instrumental section Michaels Reise um die Erde depicts the travels of a hero culminating in an ascension to heaven. There are clear parallels here to the journey of Parsifal which was profoundly characterised by Richard Wagner’s affinity with religious spirituality, and the evening concludes with extracts from this work. John Cage’s 4′33″, a composition that reoriented and challenged listening habits through the discovery of musical rests as sonic space, acts as a connecting element between these works, attuning the ear to a quasi-sacred atmosphere.

Orchester der Deutschen Oper Berlin

Kleiner Saal

In the context of Mittwoch aus Licht, Titus Engel, for his first concert as conductor-in-residence, connects the musical worlds of Stockhausen and Wagner. Both composers not only shaped the music of their time, but they also polarised opinion, both aesthetically and socially. A mystical aura still surrounds both; religion of art and classical heroic epic are the central elements of their two late works. A few days before the premiere of Mittwoch, the second act of Donnerstag offers insights into another day of the week-long opera cycle. As a purely instrumental section, Michael’s journey around the world traces a hero’s path culminating in his ascension to Heaven. The parallels to Parsifal’s journey, profoundly influenced by Wagner’s affinity for religious spirituality, are evident. John Cage's piece 4′33″ serves as a link and prelude to the quasi-sacred atmosphere, having revolutionised listening through the establishment of the musical pause as a sonic space. The concert marks the opening of the thematic focus on Stockhausen and Cage, co-curated by Titus Engel.

Symphony Concert: Light on Parsifal

Deutsche Oper Berlin

The Royal Swedish Orchestra’s 500th anniversary celebrations continue with a magnificent start to this autumn’s concerts. A powerful programme of Wagner’s works features Nina Stemme as a soloist and Alan Gilbert conducting.

Royal Orchestra & Stemme

Royal Swedish Opera

The Perelada Festival presents an extraordinary concert at the Palau de la Música Catalana, bringing together the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra under the direction of Pablo Heras-Casado. An event that transcends the usual framework of the Festival and is projected as an event of great musical significance, in dialogue with a city deeply linked to the Wagnerian tradition.

Bayreuth Festival Orchestra

Palau de la Música Catalana

This pianist fits into no mold. Bridget Yee was born in Malaysia in 2004, came to London at age eleven to study, and went on to win the Windsor International Piano Competition, among others. Yet she doesn’t shine only at the keyboard: she also trained as a cellist and double bassist, performing in orchestral concerts under Jac van Steen and Benjamin Zander. That broadened her horizons, she says — and benefits her piano playing, too.

Bridget Yee

Reformierte Lukaskirche

Marking 25 years as Music Director of The Cleveland Orchestra, Franz Welser-Möst leads a rousing program of music spanning a century and a half. The expansive opening of Wagner’s Die Meistersinger gives way to the propulsive soundscapes of Bernd Richard Deutsch’s Intensity. The evening closes with Richard Strauss’s Symphonia domestica, an intimate portrait of the composer’s family life, from the mundane to the passionate to the playful.

Welser-Möst Conducts Strauss

Severance Music Center

A Night at the Symphony

Taft High School

The opera success for the whole family returns!

Who will save humanity and love when the battle for the magic ring rages from the castle of the gods to the depths of the underworld? Experience an unforgettable musical adventure populated by gods, valkyries and dwarves in this brand new family version of Wagner's opera cycle The Ring of the Nibelung . Here, four operas are merged into one story about friendship and power, and what happens when power ends up in the wrong hands.

The Ring offers 7-12 year olds and their families an adventurous first-time experience of Wagner's classical masterpiece.

Ringen

The Little Theatre, Copenhagen

What breaks cannot be put back together. But in "Götterdämmerung" it becomes clear that even in the shadow of failure, a profound meaning shines – beyond revenge and glory.

Twilight of the Gods

Bayreuth Festival Theatre

Depicting a man’s final hours on earth and his soul’s journey to judgement, The Dream of Gerontius contains some of Elgar’s most moving and powerful music, from the quiet but fervent opening to the sublime ‘Angel’s Farewell’. Life and death, angels and demons, love and faith, all are explored in heart-rending music that Elgar himself described as “the best of me”.

Three Choirs Festival: The Dream of Gerontius

Gloucester Cathedral

Jay Scheib translates Wagner's religious masterpiece into a contemporary, often abstract visual language, questioning traditional rituals and symbolism.

Parsifal

A young man, unaware of his origins, resolutely breaks free from old ties. "Siegfried" unfolds the tense struggle of an individual fighting his way through a web of unfulfilled expectations, oppressive silence, and crumbling power.

Siegfried

Tcherniakov's production of "The Flying Dutchman" is a radical, psychologically dense interpretation that brings clear visual symbolism, strong female characters and a modern thriller scenario.

The Flying Dutchman

The Valkyrie

The ring grows from a painful insult – a spark that ignites an unleashed force that can no longer be tamed. "Das Rheingold" opens the gate to an unstoppable chain reaction that sets everything in motion and irrevocably steers destiny.

Das Rheingold

Rienzi, Wagner's third opera, was once his greatest success. The performance in Bayreuth is a unique opportunity to rediscover Wagner's early triumph – in a place where it has never been heard before.

Rienzi

The Perelada Festival welcomes the return of Bryn Terfel, one of the great voices of our time, in a recital that is presented as a living synthesis of his artistic journey. With a career that extends over almost four decades, the Welsh bass-baritone has built an interpretative universe that embraces from Mozart to Wagner, from the Romantic Lied to the traditional song, always with the same expressive conviction and deep respect for the musical material.

Bryn Terfel

Església del Carme

3rd Festival Chamber Concert: Polyphonic with Vocals

Munich Residence

Each year, the Festival international de Colmar transforms the city’s most distinguished heritage venues into vibrant stages for world-class soloists and leading ensembles. Since 2023, the festival has been under the artistic direction of Alain Altinoglu.

The La Monnaie Symphony Orchestra at the Colmar Festival

Église Saint-Matthieu de Colmar

An unusual program where Antonio Pappano, Principal Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, demonstrates both his opera experience and his dramatic flair. Vilde Frang interprets Beethoven's Violin Concerto on a 1734 Guarneri. Sarah Jakubiak and Clay Hilley can be heard in Wagner's "Liebestod" act from Tristan und Isolde. In addition to his role as Siegfried, the American heroic tenor has already earned acclaim in the Festspielhaus as the emperor in Strauss’s Die Frau ohne Schatten.

Wagner & Beethoven

Festspielhaus Baden-Baden

The Budapest Festival Orchestra takes a musical trip to the banks and into the depths of the Rhine when offering Schumann’s symphony, inspired by charming experiences and a Wagner scene. The former commemorates a peaceful riverside excursion to the Rhine, and the latter is one of the most famous scenes from the monumental opera tetralogy, The Ring of the Nibelung. The concert will feature two outstanding singers in the roles of Brünhilde and Wotan in one of the most dramatic father-daughter scenes in operatic literature. Swedish soprano Ingela Brimberg, who is very much at home in the Wagnerian repertoire, has sung the title role in numerous productions from Stockholm to Madrid to Bordeaux.

Tour: Alhambra, Granada

Patio of the Palace of Charles V

This stellar festival gala concert will welcome one of the greatest figures on the contemporary opera scene. Bryn Terfel, an operatic legend with the charisma of a world star, will perform a programme that transcends the boundaries of genres and styles. He will be joined by Slovak soprano Slávka Zámečníková. The evening will feature famous opera arias, musical theatre melodies and distinctive Welsh songs, promising an exceptional experience full of emotion and vocal virtuosity.

Opera Gala – Bryn Terfel & Slávka Zámečníková

Litomyšl Castle

International guest concert 1

The Concertgebouw

“A Night at the Opera” brings the grand tradition of European opera into our American Adventures season, celebrating the larger-than-life drama, romance, and spectacle that have captivated audiences for centuries. This performance will showcase highlights of the work in concert format, featuring the Summit Choral Society alongside soloists selected from Central City Opera’s prestigious Bonfils-Stanton Foundation Young Artists Training Program. Mozart’s Overture to The Magic Flute sets the stage with brilliance and mystery, its noble chords and quicksilver passages opening the door to a world of fantasy. From Rossini’s swaggering “Largo al factotum” to Bizet’s sultry “Habanera,” from the thunder of Verdi’s Anvil Chorus to the soaring triumph of “Nessun dorma,” this program unfolds as a gallery of unforgettable moments—choruses, duets, and overtures that showcase opera’s full emotional range, from intimate confession to exhilarating spectacle. 

A Night at the Opera

Riverwalk Center

Richard Wagner wrote Die Walküre as the second of four parts of the powerful musical theatre epic, Der Ring des Nibelungen, which is based on the Medieval Nibelungenlied and old Norse god sagas. Wotan, the highest god, has fathered twins with a mortal woman – Siegmund and Sieglinde. These two in turn have a child, in which Wotan sees his dominion consolidated. His wife Fricka defies his plans and, as protector of the traditional marriage rites, demands Siegmund’s death. Wotan reluctantly agrees, although it will cause a split with his favourite daughter.

Die Walküre

Max-Joseph-Platz

Zubin Mehta & Rudolf Buchbinder

We join RNCM student conductors and International Artist Diploma musicians for an afternoon of extraordinary music making in the BBC Philharmonic Studio.

BBC Philharmonic Orchestra and RNCM: International Artist Diploma Performance 2

MediaCityUK

Tannhäuser lived for seven years in the dream world of the Venusberg, but even his return to the stifling society of Wartburg Castle brings no fulfillment. A pilgrim between worlds, he is homeless. The Icelandic director Thorleifur Örn Arnarsson, known for his compelling interpretations of mythical material and grand narratives, stages "Tannhäuser" as an existential drama of identity and a surreal journey into the human psyche. Wagner condensed the search for meaning and stability in a world that seems to be slipping away into a philosophical description of the world.

Tannhäuser

Opernhaus Zürich

Works by Wagner / Widmann / Xenakis / Saariaho / Pelzel

Friedrichsforum

The Irish princess Isolde is promised to King Marke of Cornwall. Together with her handmaiden Brangäne, she is escorted across the sea by the knight Tristan. Isolde’s lethal poison meant for Tristan is replaced with a love potion, and their passion leads them along a path to tragedy.

We present a revival of our acclaimed production of Wagner’s groundbreaking Tristan und Isolde, directed by Carmen Jakobi with the Longborough Festival Orchestra conducted by Longborough’s veteran Wagnerian Music Director, Anthony Negus.

Longborough Festival Opera

We're having a celebrity guest at the start of our weekend with the Bavarian State Opera: Hanna-Elisabeth Müller, a member of the ensemble from 2012 to 2016, is a sought-after singer who performs on the world's most important opera and concert stages. She sings Alexander Zemlinsky's extended setting of a poem by Richard Dehmel, whose poetry also inspired Arnold Schoenberg to create his most famous piece, the sextet "Transfigured Night." Interspersed with Richard Wagner's Tristan-like Wesendonck Lieder: unimagined bliss...

The Bavarian State Opera in Blaibach – Polyphonic

Blaibach Concert Hall

Richard Wagner’s music dramas take centre stage this season, but his music for small ensembles is equally captivating. Siegfried Idyll, featuring birdsong and a lullaby, was a tender birthday gift to his wife Cosima, free from the weight of his grand operas, though its themes later appeared in Der Ring. George Enescu’s lushly harmonic Octet showcases the rarely used combination of eight strings, blending the power of a larger ensemble with the intimacy of chamber music. Together, these works reveal a different, lighter side to the late Romantic tradition.

Chamber music: Wagner and Enescu

AMUZ (Festival van Vlaanderen Antwerpen)

In Wagner's interpretation, the medieval myth about the tragic love between the Irish king's daughter Isolde and Tristan, King Mark's henchman, to whom Isolde was married against her will, becomes a key work of musical theater at the beginning of a new era. This season, the Hamburg State Opera is bringing Ruth Berghaus' legendary production from 1988 back into the repertoire.

Tristan und Isolde (Tristan and Isolde)

Hamburg State Opera

The Apollo Orchestra with principal Conductor David Chan welcomes Susanna Phillips, soprano, as our featured soloist in Strauss’s Four Last Songs.

New World

Montgomery College Catherine F. Scott Commons

Conner Leavitt, tenor

Northwestern Bienen School of Music

Stories of tragic love unfold through the expressive power of the orchestra. Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde conveys the tender weight of grief with exquisite harmonies, and Tchaikovsky recounts forbidden lovers from Dante’s Inferno who are eternally tossed in the wind. The highs and lows of a bittersweet romance are on display in scenes from Strauss’s Der Rosenkavalier.

Wagner, Tchaikovsky, and Strauss

Detroit Symphony Orchestra

There’s a good reason why Elgar’s Cello Concerto is a classic: deep emotions surge beneath its haunted surface and if anyone can uncover them it’s our soloist, the remarkable Kian Soltani. Today, it’s just one stage on an emotional odyssey devised by our Principal Guest Conductor Patrick Hahn: a voyage that embraces the infinite longing of George Crumb and Richard Wagner, the volcanic grief of Benjamin Britten, and Scriabin’s final, multicoloured starburst of pure sonic bliss. Join us and be transported. 

Elgar’s Cello Concerto

Glasgow Royal Concert Hall

Usher Hall, Edinburgh

There’s a good reason why Elgar’s Cello Concerto is a classic: deep emotions surge beneath its haunted surface and if anyone can uncover them it’s our soloist, the remarkable Kian Soltani. Today, it’s just one stage on an emotional odyssey devised by our Principal Guest Conductor Patrick Hahn: a voyage that embraces the infinite longing of George Crumb and Richard Wagner, the volcanic grief of Benjamin Britten, and Scriabin’s final, multicoloured starburst of pure sonic bliss. Join us and be transported.

Usher Hall

In the final part of the Nibelung tetralogy, Siegfried goes out into the world, gets caught up in Hagen's intrigues and is murdered by him. Dying, he remembers his love for Brünnhilde.

Götterdämmerung

Vienna State Opera

When the Sønderjylland Symphony Orchestra and the Schleswig-Holstein Symphony Orchestra unite, music truly becomes borderless. Across national borders – but with a shared love of symphonic music – the two orchestras create a magnificent concert experience that is only possible in a region with such strong cultural ties. It is a unique opportunity to experience over 100 musicians together on stage, a luxury that is otherwise only found in the largest European capitals.

Collaboration concert: Wagner, Brantelid & Mahler

Alsion Concert Hall

German House

"Camille Saint-Saëns' Cello Concerto is fantastic: very dramatic, in a way truly theatrical," enthuses star cellist Gautier Capuçon. And with his globally acclaimed, sonorous voice, the Frenchman is the perfect soloist for this Romantic masterpiece. It's no surprise that it's so dramatic: after all, Saint-Saëns wrote eleven operas, just two fewer than operatic giant Richard Wagner. And so it's fitting that the two composers perform side by side here—especially since the Staatskapelle Dresden is an orchestra whose DNA is, so to speak, written into its DNA. But the top-class ensemble also manages to illuminate the lucid brilliance of Claude Debussy's impressionistic soundscape "La mer" with "effortless excellence" and "overwhelming beauty" (Hamburger Abendblatt). An evening not to be missed! (And just as an aside: Debussy was also, of course, an opera composer.)

Saxon State Orchestra Dresden / Gautier Capuçon / Daniele Gatti

Elbphilharmonie Hamburg

It is a young, but all the more beautiful tradition: shortly before the end of the season, great orchestral sound prepares a feast for the ears. The Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden is the orchestra of honour. In the 1840s, Richard Wagner referred to the orchestra, which he himself led as court conductor, with sincere affection as a 'wonderful harp'. Since then, the art-loving metropolis on the River Elbe has been a constant source of Wagnerian music. For the orchestra festival at the Alte Oper, the Dresdeners will continue to focus on Wagner, placing him in a surprising field of tension: Camille Saint-Saëns and Claude Debussy were among the German Romantic composer's greatest admirers and harshest critics. The Sächsische Staatskapelle, its principal conductor Daniele Gatti and Gautier Capuçon will devote themselves to these three magicians of sound par excellence.

Orchestra Festival: Saxon State Orchestra Dresden

Alte Oper

To open this concert, Wagner conceived his Sigfried-Idyll as a gift to his wife Cosima, blending pastoral tenderness and miniature Wagnerian leitmotifs. An intimate dialogue woven by horns and woodwinds already imbued with nostalgia. In his Serenade Opus 44 , a jewel of spontaneity straight out of Czech folklore, Dvořák alternates joyful village dances with more nostalgic melodies. They showcase bassoons and oboes with a subtle art of counterpoint. As for Brahms, his Serenade No. 1 marks his symphonic debut and deploys his classical architecture refreshed by romantic colors. The Orchestre National Montpellier reveals the full palette of melodies that seem blown by the wind – from the transparency of the minuets to the majesty of the finales. A sensitive homage to the instruments that sing, converse, and dance.

Montpellier Occitanie National Orchestra

Collégiale Saint-Étienne

He has never learned to fear. So he manages to forge the sword Notung and use it to kill the dragon Fafner. He wins the Ring of the Nibelung and is led by the forest bird to Brünnhilde, who has been put to sleep by the god Wotan. Siegfried awakens Brünnhilde and they both fall in love with each other.

The epic struggle between good and evil reaches its climactic conclusion in Richard Wagner’s Twilight of the Gods (Götterdämmerung), as the battle for the ring of power brings about the destruction of the gods’ world. Devoted love is torn apart by manipulation, and the final reckoning unfolds in a cataclysm of fire and water. In the operatic repertoire, few works rival the grandeur and emotional intensity of Wagner’s masterpiece. This new production of the monumental finale to the RING cycle offers operagoers an unforgettable experience when witnessed live.

Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre

Northwestern University Symphony Orchestra

Northwestern University

To open this concert, Wagner conceived his Sigfried-Idyll as a gift to his wife Cosima, blending pastoral tenderness and miniature Wagnerian leitmotifs. An intimate dialogue woven by the horns and woodwinds already imbued with nostalgia. In his Serenade Opus 44 , a jewel of spontaneity straight out of Czech folklore, Dvořák alternates joyful village dances with more nostalgic melodies. They highlight bassoons and oboes with a subtle art of counterpoint. As for Brahms, his Serenade No. 1 marks his symphonic debut and deploys his classical architecture refreshed by romantic colors. A sensitive homage to the instruments that sing, dialogue and dance.

The Voice of the Winds

Théâtre de Mende

Since 2016, the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra has hosted an ”Orchestra Academy”. The international RSPO Orchestra Academy is a one-year, advanced academic programme for young musicians. Under the guidance of the section leaders from the Royal Stockholm Philharmonic Orchestra and the Piteå School of Music, the musicians receive intensive training individually, in chamber music, and orchestral playing.

Concert with the RSPO Orchestra Academy

Stockholm Concert Hall

The Montpellier Occitanie Orchestra is pleased to present a series of open-air concerts, in the parks and gardens of Montpellier, but also in the heart of neighborhoods, in the Maisons pour tous. Whether you come alone, as a couple, with family, or with friends, these concerts will offer you the opportunity to share unique musical moments, outside of our traditional concert halls.

In garden and in courtyard #3

Jardin des plantes de Montpellier

The Ring Without Words is an orchestral suite that distills the most iconic themes from Richard Wagner’s monumental tetralogy, The Ring of the Nibelung. This 70-minute symphonic fresco encapsulates the essence of the 15-hour epic, telling the tale of a magical ring forged by the dwarf Alberich from gold stolen from the Rhine. While the ring grants immense power, it also brings ruin and destruction to those who possess it. Wotan, the king of the gods, attempts to control the ring but fails, leading to the gods’ downfall. Betrayed and manipulated, the hero Siegfried is killed by Hagen, son of Alberich. Brünnhilde, the Valkyrie, daughter of Wotan and wife of Siegfried, returns the ring to the Rhine, marking the end of an era. The Ring Without Words offers an immersive journey through Wagner’s world, highlighting its most memorable moments, including the prelude to Das Rheingold, the Ride of the Valkyries, Siegfried’s death and funeral music, and the apocalyptic conclusion in Twilight of the Gods. In a thrilling season finale, the soaring lyricism of Schumann’s Piano Concerto, performed by pianist Yefim Bronfman, contrasts with the destructive power of gold in Wagner’s epic, creating a stunning clash of opposing powers.

Wagner and the Legend of the Ring

Place des Arts

With their incestuous, adulterous love, they violate the guest and marriage laws that Wotan's wife Fricka watches over. Siegmund is therefore supposed to die in a duel with Hunding, but Wotan's daughter Brünnhilde, a Valkyrie, defies her father's will and fights for Siegmund. Wotan is forced to kill Siegmund himself. Brünnhilde is punished by her father: he surrounds her with a wall of fire and sinks her into a deep sleep.

The final part of the tetralogy sees another broadening of the horizon. Siegfried sallies forth »to new glories«, encountering people driven by a desire for power and riches and without scruple in their determination to acquire them. Without Brünnhilde on hand to help him, the hero succumbs to a conspiracy at the Gibichung hall, also triggering the beginning of the end of the old world, which is still beset by the curse placed by Alberich in THE RHINEGOLD on the ring, which confers great power on its wearer. With Brünnhilde realising what has happened, she sees self-sacrifice as the only path to redemption: by eradicating herself through immolation and returning the stolen gold to the Rhine, she will be clearing the way for a new beginning for all. From Brünnhilde’s ashes Wagner rekindles the love theme, which until then has only been played in Act 3 of THE VALKYRIE. This charges the final moments of TWILIGHT OF THE GODS with an atmosphere of hope rather than simply the gloom of destruction. The game can begin again; will it take a different course next time?

Der Ring des Nibelungen – Götterdämmerung

Wagner's Siegfried, the third opera in Richard Wagner’s monumental Ring Cycle follows the coming-of-age journey of its titular hero Siegfried, a fearless but naïve young man destined to play a pivotal role in the fate of gods and mortals.

The Citadel

Wagner reserved his most magical and powerful music for the final part of the Ring cycle – a series of four epic operas.

London Symphony Orchestra/Sir Simon Rattle

Barbican Centre

The two middle sections of the tetralogy set out two ways of experiencing life. On the one hand we are presented in THE VALKYRIE with Brünnhilde, whose maturation process takes her from her discovery of sorrow and empathy to a conscious reflection on what it is to be human. By contrast, Siegfried’s path is mapped out solely as a function of his sensory experience. Where initially the young man’s self-image stems only from his exploration of his own boundless strength, other senses and sensibilities soon come to bear, along with an awakening sexuality. SIEGFRIED presents an encounter not only between man and woman but between two principles – Siegfried’s innate, unquestioned vigour on one side and Brünnhilde’s wisdom born of observation on the other. And as these two diametrical forces unite in a love clinch, the end of the opera seems to be presenting the basis for a renewal of human society.

Der Ring des Nibelungen – Siegfried

To open this concert, Wagner conceived his Sigfried-Idyll as a gift to his wife Cosima, blending pastoral tenderness and miniature Wagnerian leitmotifs. An intimate dialogue woven by horns and woodwinds already imbued with nostalgia. In his Serenade Opus 44 , a jewel of spontaneity straight out of Czech folklore, Dvořák alternates joyful village dances with more nostalgic melodies. They showcase bassoons and oboes with a subtle art of counterpoint. As for Brahms, his Serenade No. 1 marks his symphonic debut and deploys his classical architecture refreshed by romantic colors. Under the expert direction of Jean-François Verdier, the Orchestre National Montpellier reveals the full palette of melodies that seem blown by the wind – from the transparency of the minuets to the majesty of the finales. A sensitive tribute to the instruments that sing, dialogue and dance.

Opéra Comédie

Music has the power to express emotions that we have no words for: happiness, grief, ecstasy and the dissolution of boundaries. William Walton, one of the most important English composers of the 20th century, finds in his neo-Romantic viola concerto a path between intimacy and emergence. The bizarre music-mystic Scriabin searched for a great synaesthetic mystery that was supposed to put humanity in a state of ecstasy. The closest he came to achieving this goal was with his captivating Poème de l’extase. Wagner's Tristan und Isolde is about the bonding of two people against all societal conventions, the celebration of an all-consuming and fatal love.

Skrja­bin - Wagner - Walton

Meistersingerhalle

Following the LA Phil’s acclaimed production of Das Rheingold, Gustavo Dudamel, famed architect Frank Gehry, and director Alberto Arvelo take on the second installment in Wagner’s grand Ring Cycle: Die Walküre. Envisioned as a three-part saga with each act standing on its own, this production boasts a cast of international opera superstars who bring to life a grand tale of love, fate, duty, and self-determination.

Die Walküre Act III

Walt Disney Concert Hall

Matthias Pintscher, newly appointed conductor of the Kansas City Symphony Orchestra and an expert on the music of the 20th and 21st centuries, has programmed a birthday greeting and – in keeping with the music festival motto “The End” – two very different farewell works for his guest conducting engagement with the NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra.

NDR Elbphilharmonie Orchestra / Leonidas Kavakos / Matthias Pintscher

Esa-Pekka Salonen is back with the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra as conductor and composer! In his Concerto for Organ and Orchestra, he uses every imaginable register – true to his multifaceted artistry. We also hear the dazzling Poème de l’Extase by Scriabin.

Salonen Sinfonia Concertante

Göteborgs Symfoniker

A profound philosophical meditation on compassion and reconciliation, Wagner’s transcendent rendering of a medieval knight’s heroic quest for the Holy Grail returns in François Girard’s celebrated production, a “thoughtful and intrepid staging, full of striking imagery” (The New York Times). Yannick Nézet-Séguin conducts a cast of Wagnerian superstars, including tenor Piotr Beczała in the title role, mezzo-soprano Elīna Garanča as the enigmatic Kundry, baritone Peter Mattei as the ailing Amfortas, bass-baritone Ryan Speedo Green as the sorcerer Klingsor, and bass Jongmin Park as the wise Gurnemanz.

Lincoln Center

The dwarf Alberich, ridiculed and rejected by the three Rhinemaidens, steals the Rhinegold,curses love and uses the gold to forge a ring that bestows great power. From then on, everyone lusts after it, but it brings death and destruction, laden with a curse.

Die Walküre Act I

With the hegemony of the gods at its zenith at the close of THE RHINEGOLD and the gods ensconced in the castle of Valhalla, trouble is brewing in THE VALKYRIE. The mortals are power-crazed, mistrust and materialism rule and all that the gods can think about is enforcing the old codes rather than questioning their raison d’être. Siblings Siegmund and Sieglinde are condemned to death because there is no place for their special brand of love in society. Brünnhilde, a Valkyrie, is charmed by them and dares to defy her father Wotan’s sentence by taking the pair under her wing. In THE VALKYRIE Wagner makes it plain whose side he is on: in the big love scene between Siegmund and Sieglinde, in which the elemental force of love outpunches all social mores, and in the evolution of Brünnhilde’s character, whose conduct is at first motivated by intuitive sympathy but morphs into deliberate action as a protest against inhumanity and injustice.

Der Ring des Nibelungen – Die Walküre

‘In this realm, time becomes space…’ From CS Lewis to Terry Gilliam, Wagner’s Parsifal has been an inspiration to the very greatest creative artists. Vasily Petrenko conducts a symphonic suite that weaves all the power and beauty of Wagner’s five-hour masterpiece into one sumptuous orchestral tapestry: music that glows from within, sounding more radiant than ever in the Royal Festival Hall.

Wagner x Taneyev

Royal Festival Hall

Union County Performing Arts Center (UCPAC)

Richard Wagner considered RHEINGOLD a "pre-evening" to his stage play DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN, a label that certainly deliberately refers to the prologues of the Baroque operas. Because here, as well as there, the gods are in control and create the conditions under which the fates of man will be decided. And just like the ancient deities of Monteverdi, their northern counterparts of Wagner are beings who embody the drives of human existence. All of the feelings, urges and thoughts that determine our own existence also appear in the two and a half hours of RHEINGOLD. Starting with the innocent games played by the Rheinmaidens whom the Nibelung Alberich robs of their gold, to this dwarf's unbridled lust for power and the scornful nihilism of the fire god Loge, to the father of the gods Wotan's attempt to create something that will last with his palace of Valhalla. And not lastly, the gold itself is a mute lead character: an item of gleaming fascination, it is simultaneously a touchstone by which each character is manifest and which divides gods and man alike into good and evil.

Der Ring des Nibelungen – Das Rheingold

Season 77 comes to a thrilling end with the all-time favorite symphony of Brahms, a radiant performance by Klein Competition winner and international star, Pearl de la Motte, and one of Wagner’s greatest hits.

Pearl de la Matte, 2024 Klein Competition Winner

Heritage Theatre

San Mateo High School

Guest performance in Bayreuth

Guest performance in Bayreut

Friedrichsforum, Bayreuth

V18 Season Ticket - RESIS FESTIVAL

Opera House, A Coruña

South African cellist Abel Selaocoe is a force of nature—celebrated for breaking boundaries and captivating audiences around the globe. He brings his unique artistry to the North American Première of Jessie Montgomery’s powerful new Cello Concerto. The evening then soars into mythic realms with the haunting legend of The Flying Dutchman and the sweeping grandeur of Götterdämmerung—a tale of betrayal, love, sacrifice, and the twilight of the gods.

Epic Wagner

David Pecaut Square

Blending sonic mysticism with maritime contemplation, this concert unites German and French Romanticism in a way that is both rich in contrasts and affinities. Richard Wagner’s music from »Parsifal« and »Tristan und Isolde« transports us into worlds of redemption and Liebestod (love death), metaphysical silence and burning ecstasy. Between these works come two French masterpieces that create their own unique sensuality: Camille Saint-Saëns’ First Cello Concerto is a virtuoso and dramatic concert piece without symphonic pretensions, while Claude Debussy’s »La Mer« is an impressionistic naturalistic panorama, full of movement and refracting sunlight. The Cello Concerto is interpreted by our »Artist in Residence« Gautier Capuçon, a master of the warm, cantabile tone.

Symphony Concert N° 10

Semperoper Dresden

There’s pathos and grandeur in equal measure in Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto, its slow movement one of the composer’s most achingly divine.

London Symphony Orchestra/Nathalie Stutzmann

This program highlights the viola’s deep, expressive voice in Canadian composer Cassandra Miller’s Concerto, a poignant reflection on separation premiered in 2023 by Lawrence Power. Meanwhile, Debussy paints a vivid portrait of the sea with impressionistic colours, immersing listeners in a nostalgic and dreamlike soundscape. Enjoy a musical journey that is both powerful and poetic.

Richard Wagner

Events

Upcoming events

Apr 25, 2026 - Jun 10, 2027

Der fliegende Holländer · Wiener Staatsoper

Jun 21 - Oct 13, 2026

Tannhäuser · Opernhaus Zürich

Sep 24, 2026

Fanfares for the Common Man and the Uncommon Woman · Eugene Symphony

Sep 25, 2026

Eugene Symphony: Fanfares & Serenades · Eugene Symphony

Sep 26, 2026

Love, Fate and Fire · Camellia Symphony Orchestra

Past events

Sep 19, 2026

Sibelius Symphony No. 5 · BBC Philharmonic

Sep 18, 2026

Departure - Marie Jacquot & Yulianna Avdeeva · WDR Sinfonieorchester

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