 On September of this year, soprano Astrid Varnay died in Munich, Germany. She was one of the great Wagnerian sopranos of our times, and one of the artists chosen by Wieland Wagner to re-open the Bayreuth Festival in 1951. Astrid Varnay was one of the most successful sopranos of the 1950's and 60's. In the mid 1970's she came back to the stage in character roles. In this podcast you will hear her in the role of Brünnhilde in the 1955 stereo recording of Siegfried from the Bayreuth Festspielhaus.

In Memoriam: Astrid Varnay (1918-2006)

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In this podcast my good friends Francis and Julia Creighton discuss their insights into the Santa Fe Opera The Flying Dutchman., which they saw this past summer. Francis and Julia discuss the production, as well as the incredible theater, one of the unique places in the world to hear opera. 

The Dutchman at Santa Fe with Francis and Julia

This summer the Bayreuth Festival will present a new production of PARSIFAL that will use Augmented Reality glasses. It promises to be a landmark production in the history of Bayreuth.

An A.I. Summer at Bayreuth

In this podcast I am joined by my good friend, Francis Creighton, as we explore the custom of presenting Wagner at the MET during Spring time, which coincides with the 2023 new production of Lohengrin from the Metropolitan Opera.   

The Wagner That Blooms in the Spring

This Lohengrin is one of the great recordings of the 1930's from the Bayreuth Festival. It features  Franz Völker and  Maria Müller, two of the leading singers of the time, in excerpts from this opera. Many consider Völker to be the greatest Lohengrin of the 20th century.   

A Lohengrin for the Ages

   The Metropolitan Opera is currently presenting Wagner's Ring, and the return of the Robert Lapage controversial production. Last Saturday I attended a performance of Die Walküre, and the mechanical problems that plagued this staging during the first season now seem to be gone.

In Memoriam: Astrid Varnay (1918-2006)

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