Wagner Articles and Reviews on Wagneropera.net

On the Senta character, Lise Davidsen, Gerald Finley and the Flying Dutchman (Concert performance, Oslo, August 2024)

Gerald Finley and Lise Davidsen in a concert performance of The Flying Dutchman at the Norwegian National Opera in Oslo in August 2024

Sam Goodyear reviews Stefan Herheim's production of Der Ring des Nibelungen at Deutsche Oper, Berlin (2024)

“All in all then, an intellectually demanding production that took me a while to get to grips with, but which has already grown in stature significantly in my mind in the ten days since I saw it. Given the level of detail in the staging, I think it could well be one that really requires a second viewing to get the most out of. But even after a single viewing, and despite some remaining reservations, I think the fact that I am still thinking about the questions of artistic and societal change that Herheim raises means that to a significant extent, the play’s the thing wherein he’s caught the conscience of the Ring.”

Der fliegende Holländer (Dmitri Tcherniakov/ Oksana Lyniv), Bayreuth 2023

Read Sam Goodyear's review here...

Augmented Reality, Allegory, and Environmental Themes: Sam Goodyear reviews Jay Scheib’s Parsifal Production at Bayreuth 2023

Read the review here...

Tristan und Isolde

If Roland Schwab’s goal with his production of Tristan und Isolde were to provide a sense of escapism, then one has to say he delivered it. Sam Goodyear reviews Tristan und Isolde – “the production that never should have been”.

Sam Goodyear on Roland Schwab’s production of Tristan und Isolde, Bayreuth 2023

Tcherniakov: Der Ring des Nibelungen, Staatsoper Berlin

→ Tcherniakov: Das Rheingold, Staatsoper Berlin, 2022

→ Tcherniakov: Die Walküre, Staatsoper Berlin, 2022

→ Tcherniakov: Siegfried, Staatsoper Berlin, 2022

→ Tcherniakov: Götterdämmerung, Staatsoper Berlin, 2022

The Bayreuth Festival 2022 - Reviews by Mark Berry and Sam Goodyear

→ Das Rheingold (Valentin Schwarz / Cornelius Meister) - Bayreuth Festival 2022

→ Die Walküre (Valentin Schwarz / Cornelius Meister) - Bayreuth Festival 2022

→ Siegfried (Valentin Schwarz / Cornelius Meister) - Bayreuth Festival 2022

→ Götterdämmerung (Valentin Schwarz / Cornelius Meister) - Bayreuth Festival 2022

Sam Goodyear reviews the Der Ring des Nibelungen by Valentin Schwarz / Cornelius Meister at the Bayreuth Festival 2022: Coherent incoherence - a “constructively disrespectful” Ring at the Bayreuth Festival 2022

Bayreuth Festival Hall

The Bayreuth Festival 2019 - reviews by Mark Berry

Tannhäuser (Tobias Kratzer / Christian Thielemann) - Bayreuth Festival 2019

Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Barrie Kosky / Philippe Jordan) - Bayreuth Festival 2019

Tristan und Isolde (Katharina Wagner) - Bayreuth Festival 2019

Lohengrin (Yuval Sharon / Christian Thielemann) - Bayreuth Festival 2019

Wagner in Vermont

Review: Tristan und Isolde, Latchis Theatre in Brattleboro, Vermont (2019)

My Parsifal Conductor

My Parsifal Conductor reviewed by Germán A. Bravo-Casas, Richard Wagner Society of New York

Münchener Opernfestspiele 2018

Reviews: Parsifal (Pierre Audi / Georg Baselitz, Kirill Petrenko, Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich)

The Bayreuth Festival 2017 Reviews

Mark Berry: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Kosky/Jordan)

Sam Goodyear: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (Kosky/Jordan)

Mark Berry: Parsifal (Laufenberg/Haenchen)

Mark Berry: Das Rheingold (Castorf/Janowski)

Mark Berry: Die Walküre (Castorf/Janowski)

Mark Berry: Siegfried (Castorf/Janowski)

Mark Berry: Götterdämmerung (Castorf/Janowski)

Reviews by Mark Berry on Wagneropera.net

Bayreuth Festival

More Reviews

Reviews from the Bayreuth Festival

More Reviews

Stefan Herheim: Lohengrin. Staatsoper Berlin, 2009: Den norske opera-regissøren Stefan Herheim fortryller Berlin. (Norwegian)
Wagner i Alpene og opera i Norge (Operafestspillene i Erl - Tiroler Festspiele Erl) (Norwegian)
Den ustanselige aktualitet: Richard Wagner i Bayreuth 1998 (Norwegian)
Richard Wagner-Festspiele, Bayreuth 1999 Men kvinnene døde stående (Norwegian)
Richard Wagner-Festspiele, Bayreuth, 1999. Lohengrin: Tynget av symboler, men dyster og sterk (Norwegian)
Jürgen Flimms Ring i Bayreuth, 2000: Politikkens omslag i musikk (Norwegian)
Schlingensiefs Parsifal: Døde harer og herlig musikk i Bayreuth (Richard Wagner-Festspiele 2004) (Norwegian)
Der Ring des Nibelungen: Ringen er sluttet i København (Norwegian)
Stefan Herheim: Parsifal (2008). Mystikk og begjær i Bayreuth (Norwegian)

Reviews and articles by Germán A. Bravo-Casas on Wagneropera.net

My Parsifal Conductor reviewed by Germán A. Bravo-Casas, Richard Wagner Society of New York

Wagner’s Dream. A documentary film directed by Susan Froemke and edited by Bob Eisenhardt

William Kinderman: Wagner’s Parsifal

Selected Reviews and articles

Social Media

"People sometimes complain that Wagner operas are too long, that they get stiff and sore about 10.30 because they have rushed in to hear one of his works straight from work and are not properly prepared for listening to his music. The audience, as much as the artists, must be prepared for a performance."
(Benjamin Britten to Alan Blyth, Gramophone)

"People will enjoy the Ring and Parsifal until, one fine day, they will get tired of being pitched around on a sea of endless melody and led around by stereotyped leitmotives." (Eduard Hanslick, 1882)

"I was bowled over. It was the year after Wieland Wagner had died; to be able to see his productions was a total knock-out. These bare stagings, where everything was done with lighting. The light changed with the music, and the shadows and patterns seemed as archetypal as the music itself. Nobody had done that on the stage before. I thought it was extraordinary and wonderful."
(Patrick Carnegy to The Guardian)

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