The 108th Bayreuth Festival will begin on July 25, 2019, with a new production of Richard Wagner’s Tannhäuser and the Singers’ Contest at Wartburg. The “Grand Romantic Opera in Three Acts” premiered in Dresden in 1845 and was first performed in Bayreuth in 1891. Following Sebastian Baumgarten’s Tannhäuser interpretation in 2011, next year’s new production will be the ninth staging of the work (which will be performed in the so-called Dresden version) at the Festival.
The musical direction is by Valery Gergiev, who will conduct in Bayreuth for the first time. Tobias Kratzer was secured as director, with stage and costume design by Rainer Sellmaier.
Stephen Gould embodies the title role of Tannhäuser, which he first sang in Bayreuth in 2004. Lise Davidsen will be seen as Elisabeth, Stephen Milling as Landgrave Hermann. Wolfram von Eschenbach will be sung by Markus Eiche and the role of Venus by Ekaterina Gubanova. Daniel Behle as Walther von der Vogelweide, Kay Stiefermann as Biterolf, Jorge Rodríguez-Norton as Heinrich der Schreiber, Wilhelm Schwinghammer as Reinmar von Zweter, and Katharina Konradi as Ein junger Hirt complete the ensemble.