Wagner Operas Podcast

For many opera lovers around the world, Canadian soprano Adrianne Pieczonka became a household word this summer after her critically praised performance as Sieglinde at this year's Bayreuth Festival . In this podcast, recorded from the Ballroom of Rideau Hall in Ottawa, you will hear two of Canada's finest singers together in concert for the first time. Superstar heldentenor Ben Heppner joins Ms....

On September of this year, soprano Astrid Varnay died in Munich, Germany. She was one of the great Wagnerian sopranos of our times, and one of the artists chosen by Wieland Wagner to re-open the Bayreuth Festival in 1951. Astrid Varnay was one of the most successful sopranos of the 1950's and 60's. In the mid 1970's she came back to the stage in character roles. In this podcast you will hear her i...

This performance of Götterdämmerung brings to a close the new production of the Der Ring des Nibelungen at the Bayreuth Festival . One of the shining stars of the last evening was Hans-Peter König who, in the role of Hagen, is positively chilling in the third scene of Act II. You will also hear Christian Thielemann conducting the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra in Siegfried's Funeral Music, as well as...

One of the delights of the past two Bayreuth Festivals was listening to tenor Stephen Gould mesmerize audiences with his impressive performances of Tannhäuser . This summer he is making the crowds at the "Green Hill" go wild once again, this time with his volcanic interpretation of the title role in Siegfried . In this podcast you will hear him sing this role, alongside tenor Gerhard Siege l (Mime...

 At this year's Bayreuth Festival , one thing is certain: the new production of the Ring is receiving standing ovations thanks to the vision of director Tankred Dorst , the incredible conducting of Christian Thielemann , who leaves no doubt that he is one of the great Wagnerians of our times, and the amazing singing of Adrianne Pieczonka as Sieglinde. In this presentation of excerpts from Die Walk...

The highlight of this year's Bayreuth Festival is the new production of Der Ring des Nibelungen , staged by director Tankred Dorst , and conducted by Christian Thielemann . This new production of Das Rheingold , the prelude to Wagner's "Ring," premiered on July 26, 2006. In this program you will hear extended excerpts from this performance, which was broadcast live to the world on Radio Bavaria. T...

Most critics will agree that the richest period of Wagnerian singing in The United States took place during the 1940's, and '50's at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. This podcast pays homage to the incredible talent of those historic decades, and features performances by Lauritz Melchior , Helen Traubel , Herbert Janssen , Ramón Vinay , Margaret Harshaw , Otto Edelmann and others. Their vo...

The Bayreuth Festival will open this year on July 25 with a performance of Der fliegende Holländer , Wagner's first "mature" opera. This production is a controversial modern, Freudian staging of the work that has been greeted with boos year after year since the first time that it premiered in 2003. In this podcast we will listen to excerpts from last year's production (whose cast is almost identic...

In contrast to the first "complete" recording ever made at the Bayreuth Festival in 1928, which was the subject of our two previous podcasts, we now offer excerpts from the latest Tristan und Isolde from the Festspielhaus. This modern dress production premiered on July 25, 2005, and the action of the opera takes place aboard an ocean liner. This "Ship of Fools" production, as the European press du...

In our second and last podcast in this series celebrating the historic recording of the 1928 Bayreuth production of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde , we take a look at the Act II Love Duet and the last act of this work. Although Act III was the most heavily edited portion of this entire recording, and most of the demanding music of this complex score is not heard on this recording, it is interesting t...

This podcast presents excerpts from the 1928 recording of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde . Technical difficulties during this period of recorded history prevented British Columbia Records from capturing the audio during an actual performance. Instead, the three acts were recorded between performances in an empty hall. Nonetheless, it is a landmark recording, even though there are extensive cuts throu...

For many years, Italian was a second language to Wagner's operas, as scores of Italian singers performed the composer's music in their native tongue. Based on his Italian performances, tenor Giuseppe Borgatti became the first Italian heldentenor to be invited to perform at Bayreuth. Although, after the war, most Italian opera houses presented Wagner in German, great post-war artists such as Mario...

In the conclusion of this three-part series, we look back at the work of American baritone Clarence Whitehill , who excelled in Wagnerian roles around the world, and first performed at the Bayreuth Festival in 1904. The program also features the work of some of the best Wagner conductors on the scene today. We highlight musical excerpts from Donald Runnicles at the Vienna State Opera, Valery G erg...

The second part of the show brings us past the Bayreuth Nazi Era, and all the way up to the 1951 re-opening of the Festival after the war. This podcast features a recording from the early 1920's where the original Bayreuth Parsifal bells can be heard (they were destroyed during World War II), a recording of the Good Friday Spell conducted by Siegfried Wagner , the composer's son, and an excerpt fr...

In our premiere Podcast, we will explore the various ways in which Wagner's last opera, Parsifal , has been performed since it first saw the light of day at the Bayreuth Festival of 1882. In this program we will focus on the way that conductors have approached this musical score. It is our hope that you will enjoy the musical numbers that we have selected for you.  My sincere thanks goes out to my...