Nathalie Stutzmann

Opening the 2026 Bayreuth Festival in its 150th anniversary year, this live stream presents Wagner’s Rienzi, his early grand opera and once his greatest success, in the Festspielhaus for the first time. The staging is entrusted to award-winning directors Alexandra Szemerédy and Magdolna Parditka, while Nathalie Stutzmann conducts a superb cast led by Heldentenor Andreas Schager in the title role, with Gabriela Scherer as Irene and Jennifer Holloway as Adriano. With its massed choruses, public spectacle and private tragedy, Rienzi promises to open this landmark Bayreuth Festival in unmissable style.

Gounod's Faust at the Bavarian State Opera: Jonathan Tetelman plays Faust, the scholar who makes a pact with Mephistopheles (Kyle Ketelsen) before seducing Marguerite (Olga Kulchynska). The unfortunate woman descends into madness but ultimately achieves redemption. Lotte de Beer directs this production, which marks Nathalie Stutzmann's debut in Munich as conductor.