Rienzi: Bayreuth Festival 2026

Overview

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.

Cast

Andreas Schager

Cola Rienzi

Gabriela Scherer

Irene

Andreas Bauer Kanabas

Stefano Colonna

Jennifer Holloway

Adriano

Michael Nagy

Paolo Orsini

Vitalij Kowaljow

Raimondo

Matthias Stier

Baroncelli

Michael Kupfer-Radecky

Cecco del Vecchio

Victoria Randem

The Messenger of Peace