Budapest Wagner Days to start tomorrow

The Budapest Wagner Days, an internationally acclaimed festival featuring works of Richard Wagner, is to take place on June 15-21 at the Budapest Palace of Arts (Müpa).

Richard Wagner’s epic opera tetralogy, Ring of the Nibelung, is to be staged Thursday through Sunday, with Das Rheingold, Die Walkuere, Siefried and Goetterdaemmerung playing on consecutive evenings. The festival will also feature an early masterpiece, Rienzi, on Monday, and conclude with Parsifal on Wednesday. Art director and conductor Adam Fischer invited German director Hartmut Schoerghofer to stage the Ring cycle and Sebastian Wiegle for Rienzi.

As it has become customary in its decade-long tradition, the productions at the Müpa will use varied artistic tools ranging from puppets through shadow play to film projection.

The performances feature acclaimed singers, well versed in Wagner’s demanding roles: tenor Christian Franz, bass baritone James Rutherford and sopranos Anja Kampe and Atala Schock, among others.

Source: MTI