Wagner Operas Podcast
Episodes
Davidsen's Isolde
08 Aug 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In early 2026 soprano Lise Davidsen will perform the role of Isolde in two cities: first in Barcelona, then New York City in March. In 2024, Ms. David...
Wagner in July
21 Jul 2025
Contributed by Lukas
In this episode we present a rarely heard piece by the composer, comisioned to celebrate the Centennial of the United States of America.
The Dutchman at Santa Fe with Francis and Julia
04 Nov 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this podcast my good friends Francis and Julia Creighton discuss their insights into the Santa Fe Opera The Flying Dutchman., which they saw this ...
An A.I. Summer at Bayreuth
12 Jul 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This summer the Bayreuth Festival will present a new production of PARSIFAL that will use Augmented Reality glasses. It promises to be a landmark prod...
The Wagner That Blooms in the Spring
29 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
In this podcast I am joined by my good friend, Francis Creighton, as we explore the custom of presenting Wagner at the MET during Spring time, which c...
A Lohengrin for the Ages
20 May 2023
Contributed by Lukas
This Lohengrin is one of the great recordings of the 1930's from the Bayreuth Festival. It features Franz Völker and Maria Müller, two of the le...
An Afternoon Walküre at the MET
02 Apr 2019
Contributed by Lukas
The Metropolitan Opera is currently presenting Wagner's Ring, and the return of the Robert Lapage controversial production. Last Saturday I attend...
The Bayreuth Festival 2018
30 Jul 2018
Contributed by Lukas
It's that time of the year, when that midsummer classic the Bayreuth Festival begins once again. I will be attending this yearly ritual, and ahead of ...
Herrmann and Wagner
08 Apr 2018
Contributed by Lukas
In this podcast, we explore the link between the musical score of Alfred Hitchcock's masterpiece Vertigo, written by composer Bernard Herrmann, and th...
Parsifal at the Metropolitan Opera - 2018
18 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
When Parsifal is playing in town at the Metropolitan Opera it is a not-to-be-missed event. Luckily this year, I get to see it twice. My first visi...
A Trip to Bayreuth in 1905
15 Feb 2018
Contributed by Lukas
A guidebook to the city of Bayreuth, written at the turn of the century, got me thinking: I wonder what a trip to Bayreuth would have been like in tho...
Wagner's Christmas
17 Dec 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The Christmas season does not usually bring to mind the music of Richard Wagner, but it should, for on Christmas morning, in the year 1870, Cosima, th...
Halloween with the Flying Dutchman
29 Oct 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The Flying Dutchman (Der fliegende Holländer) is Richard Wagner's answer to Halloween. The story of a ghostly sea captain who is doomed to sail the...
Todesverkündigung
09 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
My favorite moment in the Ring of the Nibelung occurs in the second act of Die Walküre. Brünnhilde visits Siegmund to tell him that he will die in...
Bayreuth Summer Artists
01 Sep 2017
Contributed by Lukas
My journey to Bayreuth this summer was filled with so many great performers by a host of very talented singing actors. Thinking about the month of A...
A Tribute to Tannhäuser
24 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
After so many years of doing these podcasts I realized that I had never done a program dedicated exclusively to one of my favorite Wagner operas, Tann...
The Silenced Voices of Bayreuth
21 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
Currently at the Bayreuth Festival there is an exhibit called "Silenced Voices." It is a tribute to the many singers, artists, and musicians who, du...
Vincent and Francis visit Bayreuth
18 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
During these uncertain days, when the whole world seems to be enveloped by confusion, war, and hate, Vincent and his guest Francis visit the Festspiel...
Wieland Wagner: One Hundred Years
05 Aug 2017
Contributed by Lukas
This year we celebrate the 100th anniversary of the birth of Wieland Wagner, the composer's grandson, who in 1951 revolutionized the staging of his gr...
Bayreuth 2017 Opening Night
28 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
The Bayreuth Festival opened this week with a new production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Wagner's only comedy. Barrie Kosky, the director of...
René Pape at the Festspielhaus
22 Jul 2017
Contributed by Lukas
It's been seven years since my last podcast. During that time many wonderful things happened including a visit to Bayreuth in 2012. Now, this summer, ...
Bayreuth 2010: Of Rats and Men and Lohengrin
08 Aug 2010
Contributed by Lukas
No stranger to controversy these days The Bayreuth Festival opened at the end of July with a new production of Lohengrin directed by one of the best-k...
Bayreuth 2007: Katharina's Meistersinger
30 Jul 2007
Contributed by Lukas
The Bayreuth Festival opened with a much anticipated production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg directed by Katharina Wagner, daughter of Wolfgang ...
Toscanini at Salzburg: The 1936 Meistersinger
15 Jun 2007
Contributed by Lukas
Arturo Toscanini was the most sought-after conductor in the 1930's. He became the first Italian to conduct at Bayreuth, and would have continued perfo...
Richard Wagner: Before the Operas
09 Mar 2007
Contributed by Lukas
Richard Wagner composed his Symphony in C Major at the age of nineteen. It is clearly the work of a young man influenced by the towering figure and mu...
Adrianne Pieczonka & Ben Heppner in Concert
10 Nov 2006
Contributed by Lukas
For many opera lovers around the world, Canadian soprano Adrianne Pieczonka became a household word this summer after her critically praised performa...
In Memoriam: Astrid Varnay (1918-2006)
18 Sep 2006
Contributed by Lukas
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 ar...
Bayreuth Festival 2006: Götterdämmerung
16 Aug 2006
Contributed by Lukas
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...
Bayreuth Festival 2006: Siegfried
08 Aug 2006
Contributed by Lukas
One of the delights of the past two Bayreuth Festivals was listening to tenor Stephen Gould mesmerize audiences with his impressive performances of Ta...
Bayreuth Festival 2006: Die Walküre
04 Aug 2006
Contributed by Lukas
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 direct...
Bayreuth Festival 2006: Das Rheingold
29 Jul 2006
Contributed by Lukas
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 Ch...
The Golden Age of Wagnerian Opera at the MET
02 Jul 2006
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Bayreuth 2006 Opening Night: A Preview
21 Jun 2006
Contributed by Lukas
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...
The 2005 Bayreuth Tristan und Isolde
04 Jun 2006
Contributed by Lukas
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 o...
The 1928 Bayreuth Tristan und Isolde (Part 2)
21 May 2006
Contributed by Lukas
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 ta...
The 1928 Bayreuth Tristan und Isolde (Part 1)
15 May 2006
Contributed by Lukas
This podcast presents excerpts from the 1928 recording of Wagner's Tristan und Isolde. Technical difficulties during this period of recorded history p...
The Italian Wagnerians
07 May 2006
Contributed by Lukas
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. ...
Performance Practices in PARSIFAL (Part 3)
27 Apr 2006
Contributed by Lukas
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 ...
Performance Practices in PARSIFAL (Part 2)
22 Apr 2006
Contributed by Lukas
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 podcas...
Performance Practices in PARSIFAL (Part 1)
17 Apr 2006
Contributed by Lukas
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 d...
You Found Us! -- Welcome!
11 Apr 2006
Contributed by Lukas
After almost two years online, Wagneroperas.com is adding a new dimension to the website: podcasting! In a few short days this site's first podcast w...