Strong Press Acclaim for The Wagner Cycles: Götterdämmerung Tour

With performances on 14 May 2026 in Dresden, 24 May in Bayreuth, and 26 May in Hamburg, Kent Nagano continued the tour of Richard Wagner’s Götterdämmerung together with the Dresdner Festspielorchester and Concerto Köln as part of The Wagner Cycles. Developed in collaboration with the Dresden Music Festival and Concerto Köln, the project marked the culmination of a multi-year undertaking dedicated to historically informed performances of Wagner’s Ring des Nibelungen.

Together with the Dresdner Festspielorchester, Concerto Köln, and the Dresdner Festspielchor, Nagano presented a performance based on extensive historical and musicological research. The concept incorporated, among other elements, narrower-bore woodwind instruments, gut strings, and a reduced use of vibrato. The solo cast featured Åsa Jäger (Brünnhilde), Young Woo Kim (Siegfried), Patrick Zielke (Hagen), Sophia Brommer (Gutrune), and Olivia Vermeulen (Waltraute).

Press Reviews from Bayreuth

“Rarely has the conclusion of the Ring been heard with such excitement, such transparency, and such clarity.”
“Kent Nagano led the orchestra with precision and concentration, maintaining a flowing sense of rhythm while carefully shaping the dynamic balance. Siegfried’s Funeral March unfolded with a force that could pin the listener to their seat like a powerful scene in a cinema, driven by its characteristic timpani strokes.”

(Nordbayerischer Kurier, 26 May 2026, Ute Eschenbacher)

Press Reviews from Hamburg

“The transparency and clarity of the individual orchestral sections, as well as the stereophonic quality of the orchestral sound, were truly impressive and entirely unlike the darker, warmer blended sound familiar from the Hamburg State Opera.”
“As in his previous Wagner performances in Hamburg, it was not the sharply defined dynamic contrasts associated with his predecessor Simone Young that characterized Nagano’s conducting, but rather the soft and gentle orchestral sound with which he captivated the audience.”

(Klassik begeistert, 27 May 2026, Dr. Ralf Wegner)

“The generally brisk tempi and the absence of overwhelming waves of sound.”
“The performance remained transparent and became increasingly dramatic as it progressed.”

(Hamburger Abendblatt, 28 May 2026, Joachim Mischke)

Upcoming Performances

Further performances of Richard Wagner’s Götterdämmerung as part of The Wagner Cycles are scheduled for 4 June in Cologne, 31 July in Ravello, 10 September in Lucerne, and 13 September in Paris.