Bayreuth Festival 2021 comes to DG Stage

DG Stage returns to Bayreuth this summer as the Festival’s global digital partner. A year ago, Deutsche Grammophon’s first-ever virtual Bayreuth Festival set benchmark standards for online music streaming and this year’s programme is even more ambitious, offering unprecedented access to one of the greatest of all musical experiences. Between July 26 and August 24, DG Stage will present ten different current and recently performed festival productions, including the opening premiere of Der Fliegende Holländer.

Katharina Wagner, Director of the Bayreuth Festival, notes: “I am delighted that Deutsche Grammophon and the Bayreuth Festival are adding a streaming initiative on DG Stage to their long-standing partnership for the second time. Last year’s streaming offerings were the first and also the only opportunity for a broad audience to be up close and personal in Bayreuth. In addition to the live experience in the Festspielhaus, I am very grateful to Deutsche Grammophon that the international Wagner community will be able to follow the current productions and a major new production in the Festspielhaus digitally, in particular during this difficult yet very special year.”

Dr Clemens Trautmann, President Deutsche Grammophon, welcomes the strengthening of the Yellow Label’s long relationship with the Bayreuth Festival and its development in the digital domain. “The first virtual Bayreuth Festival was a tremendous success. We’re thrilled this year to present Dmitri Tcherniakov’s brand-new staging of Der fliegende Holländer from the 2021 Festival and all of Wagner’s music dramas in their current Bayreuth productions, as sadly not all Wagnerians can travel or be accommodated with tickets. Wagner himself expressed the wish that friends of his art should have free access to Bayreuth performances, and our close collaboration with the Festival and the Society of Friends – which is in turn supported by the commitment of Siemens, partner of DG Stage – puts us in the exceptional position of being able to comply with his wish for all archived productions in this very special year.”

As part of this year’s virtual Festival comes the exclusive online premiere of this year’s new production of Der fliegende Holländer (July 27), which will be available for five days at a pay-per-view price of €9.90, and Frank Castorf’s provocative production of Der Ring des Nibelungen (July 30, Aug. 6, 15 and 21). Other highlights on DG Stage: Barrie Kosky’s production of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg for the 2017 Festival (Aug. 1 and 24); Tobias Kratzer’s 2019 Tannhäuser (Aug. 2 and 23), called “entertainingly transgressive” by the Los Angeles Times; Katharina Wagner’s 2015 production of Tristan und Isolde (Aug. 9); and Parsifal in Uwe Eric Laufenberg’s 2016 production (Aug. 10). The online season opens on July 24 with Yuval Sharon’s 2018 production of Lohengrin (set and costumes by Neo Rauch and Rosa Loy).

Thanks to Deutsche Grammophon’s collaboration with the Bayreuth Festival and the Society of Friends of Bayreuth, the online ticket price has been waived for all transmissions except the exclusive premiere of Der fliegende Holländer. Each production from the Bayreuth catalogue will remain available to registered viewers for 48 hours after its initial broadcast.

The 2021 virtual Bayreuth Festival will begin on DG Stage on July 26, see here for tickets and more information.