Bayreuth Festival plans to present Wagner's 'Rienzi' for the first time in 2026

The Bayreuth Festival intends to present “Rienzi” for the first time in 2026 for its 150th anniversary, going outside of the canon of Richard Wagner’s final 10 operas for the first time

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The Bayreuth Festival intends to present "Rienzi" for the first time in 2026 for its 150th anniversary, going outside the canon of Richard Wagner's final 10 operas for the first time.

Wagner's family still runs the festival in Bayreuth Germany, and until now has limited it to only what are considered his mature works.

Katharina Wagner, a great-granddaughter who directs the festival, announced future plans during a Zoom news conference on Monday, a day before this year's schedule opens.

“Rienzi” will be staged along with the 10 other operas in 2026. “Rienzi,” Wagner's third completed opera, opened in 1842 and is based on the 14th century Italian politician Cola di Rienzo.

Wagner said the 2024 festival will feature a new staging of “Tristan und Isolde” directed by Thorleifur Örn Arnarsson, conducted by Semyon Bychkov and starring Andreas Schager and Camilla Nylund. The 2025 festival will have a new production of “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg (The Mastersingers of Nuremberg)” directed by Matthias Davids, conducted by Daniele Gatti conducting and starring Georg Zeppenfeld and Michael Spyres.

Wagner supervised the building of the Festspielhaus that opened for performances in 1876 for his “Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring of the Nibelung),” his four-night epic. His final opera, “Parsifal,” premiered there in 1882, a year before Wagner’s death.

Philippe Jordan will conduct next year's revival of Valentin Schwarz's 2022 Ring Cycle staging.