Richard Wagner News

Bayreuth Festival 2020 has been cancelled due to the health crisis.

The tragedy of warrior-maiden Brünnhilde and her beloved hero Siegfried unfolds amidst the utter greed and evil machinations of revenge-driven Alberich and his malevolent son Hagen. Love triumphs as one world ends and a new one begins bringing Wagner's magnificent Ring cycle full circle.

Pacific Opera Victoria has announced the biggest, boldest season in its 40-year history, including main stage company premières of Wagner's Die Walküre and Britten's Death in Venice and a new production of Mozart's Don Giovanni.   All performances take place at the Royal Theatre, 805 Broughton Street, Victoria, BC.

 A four-opera saga that unfolds over the course of a single week. Three weeklong cycles to be presented at Lyric in a thrilling new production that has earned rave reviews and attracted audience members from every corner of the planet. One magical lump of gold that leads to the end of one world and the beginning of another. In opera's most monumental undertaking, characters inspired by Norse mythology battle over power and love, violate sacred oaths, and make unimaginable sacrifices a?" all set to Richard Wagner's brilliant, glorious music. The word 'epic' is often overused, but it truly applies to the Olympian achievement that is The Ring of the Nibelung.

Pittsburgh Festival Opera has released the details of its 2020 schedule. Productions this season include classic opera, one world premiere, one Pennsylvania premiere and the conclusion of Pittsburgh's Ring Cycle with scenes from Siegfried and Twilight of the Gods in concert. The Festival also presents a wider breadth of programming in different venues to include lectures, a poetry reading, two concerts by its Young Artists Program and festival favorite Daphne Alderson. The Festival runs from July 11 until July 26, 2020.

For the first time in decades, a fully staged production of Richard Wagner's Parsifal will be presented in Canada, opening the Canadian Opera Company's monumental 2020/2021 season with a company premiere at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts. Cast with more than 100 singers, an orchestra of 110 musicians, and a nearly six-hour run-time, this journey of one knight's quest for the Holy Grail offers Canadian audiences a rare opportunity to experience Wagner's thrilling final masterpiece in Toronto, in a celebrated COC co-production directed by François Girard.

Canadian violinist Emmanuel Vukovich has been fascinated by Wolfram von Eschenbach's Parzival story for over twenty years. This 13th-Century medieval poem about the search for the Holy Grail was the inspiration for Richard Wagner's final opera Parsifal. Wagner, however, chose to omit a critical element in Eschenbach's story - the encounter between Parzival and an unknown dark-skinned knight who reveals himself to be Parzival's half-brother and whose name - Fierefiz - means 'he of many colours.' This 'hidden' brother of a mixed race opens the grail myth to a wide range of narratives and symbolic interpretations.

San Francisco Opera General Director Matthew Shilvock today announced the Company's 98th season, which opens on September 11, 2020 with an Opening Night Celebration featuring soprano Albina Shagimuratova and tenor Pene Pati in concert with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra conducted by Music Director Designate Eun Sun Kim. Opening Night festivities include San Francisco Opera Guild's Opera Ball, BRAVO! CLUB's annual Opening Night Gala and two new events: the Opera Supper in the Veterans Building's elegant Green Room and, for the entire audience, a celebratory, post-concert toast to the season.

The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil) held a?oeAn Enchanting Evening with Lang Lang Fundraising Dinnera?? on 17 January 2020 (Friday) at the Salisbury Room of The Peninsula Hong Kong. It is with great honour to have the star of the night, world renowned pianist Lang Lang, together with his wife (Ms Gina Alice Redlinger), joining as our distinguished guests at the Dinner, with the presence of Maestro Jaap van Zweden, the HK Phil's Music Director and Conductor of the concerts with Lang Lang. A total of HK$3.4 million was raised at the Dinner in supporting the future development of the HK Phil.

Following the great success of their five-city tour in 2017 to Seoul, Osaka, Singapore, Melbourne and Sydney and recent performances in the Mainland China, cities such as Zhuhai, Guangzhou, Foshan and Shanghai, the Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil) and its Music Director Jaap van Zweden will embark on a six-concert tour to Japan and Korea in March 2020.

Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC), alongside Queensland's Minister for the Arts Leeanne Enoch and Minister for Tourism Industry Development Kate Jones today announced one of the world's most historically renowned ballet companies, Paris Opera Ballet, will perform exclusively for the 2020 QPAC International Series from 1 to 19 July.

The Philadelphia Youth Orchestra's (PYO) all-brass ensemble, Bravo Brass, will present a concert of recent compositions and fresh arrangements of holiday favorites entitled 'Brand New Brass' at the historic St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Burlington, New Jersey on Sunday, December 1 at 3 p.m. St. Mary's is located at 145 West Broad Street, Burlington, NJ. The performance will be led by Paul Bryan, the Director and Conductor of Bravo Brass.

A rapturous performance on Monday featuring superstar soprano Renée Fleming, Maestro Long Yu, and the China Philharmonic Orchestra drew the 22nd Beijing Music Festival (BMF) to a dramatic close. This season explored a new style of classical music with today's most cutting-edge expressive forms.

In 2000, Time magazine published an extensive list of the greatest accomplishments of the 20th century. In selecting the Best Classical Composition of the 20th century, Time choose Igor Stravinsky's haunting Symphony of Psalms.

The Hong Kong Philharmonic Orchestra (HK Phil) was named Orchestra of the Year at the 2019 Gramophone Classical Music Awards ceremony a?" regarded as the a?oeOscars of classical musica?? a?" in London on Wednesday (16 October 2019) for its outstanding contribution to recorded music in the past year. The HK Phil is the first Asian orchestra to receive this prestigious international award.

As part of the Southbank Centre's Classical Season, the Philharmonia Orchestra performed a fantastic Sunday matinee of Beethoven's Symphony No.7, along with Schumann's overture to Manfred and Mendlessohn's superb Violin Concerto.

UCLA's Center for the Art of Performance (CAP UCLA) presents renowned theater artist Andrew Dawson in Space Panorama & Spirit of the Ring in a four-day engagement Thursday and Friday, Nov. 14 &15 at 8 p.m., Saturday, Nov. 16 at 3 and 8 p.m., and Sunday, Nov. 17 at 3 p.m. at the Royce Hall Rehearsal Room, UCLA.

MusicaNova Orchestra (MNO) opens its 2019-2020 season with Beethoven to Tap Shoes: Inspired by Dance Around the World, on October 20 at 2:00 PM in the Music Theater at the Musical Instrument Museum (MIM) in Phoenix

Actors Co-op (Ovation Winner 2018 Best Direction of a Musical - Intimate Theatre) is proud to present Charles Ludlam's The Mystery of Irma Vep - A Penny Dreadful, directed by Carla Cackowski, produced by Carly Lopez. This hilarious two-actor, multi-character comedic thriller is a nod to the classic Gothic melodramas and early fright flicks of the 30s and 40s. The play will run October 4 through November 10 at the Actors Co-op Crossley Theatre in Hollywood

The Cleveland Orchestra has announced a new five-year extension of Franz Welser-Möst's contract as Music Director, continuing a partnership that began in 2002 to 2027. The announcement was made at Severance Hall in Cleveland at the Gala Concert opening the Orchestra's 2019-20 season.