The Stage (Free subscription) | 29/08/2008
Festspielhaus, Bayreuth, Germany: All Bayreuth lovers have awaited this new Parsifal with either excitement or anxiety, since it replaces the 2004 production (by Schlingensief) which turned Wagner's story upside down and ended by showing a video of a putrifying rabbit. Read the full review
Deutsche Welle: DW-WORLD.DE (Free subscription) | 29/08/2008
It was a fitting final curtain for Wolfgang Wagner's career as the man in charge of the Bayreuth opera festival as Richard Wagner's last opera "Parsifal" signaled the end of his 57-year reign.
DownWithTyranny! (Free subscription) | 24/08/2008
Birgit Nilsson, whose still-unmatched Isolde and Brünnhilde are gloriously represented in the 33-CD Bayreuth Festival set, here sings Isolde's climactic "Liebestod" in concert in 1962 with the Vienna Philharmonic under Hans Knappertsbusch, whose Bayreuth Parsifal from the same year -- one of the all-time great opera recordings -- was regrettably passed over. by Ken In some ways -- not many, but some...
Deutsche Welle: DW-WORLD.DE (Free subscription) | 13/08/2008
Parsifal's search for the mythical Grail is not just a topic for Wagner operas. The legend has inspired artists and musicians in many cultures, as a Bayreuth exhibit explores.
International Herald Tribune (Free subscription) | 30/07/2008
The promiscuous new production of Wagner's "Parsifal" that opened the Bayreuth Festival on Friday was the talk of the opera season in Europe, while Waltraud Meier topped a remarkable cast in Wagner's "Tannhäuser" at the nearby Festspielhaus.
International Herald Tribune (Free subscription) | 30/07/2008
Although Waltraud Meier topped a remarkable cast in Wagner's "Tannhäuser," the current talk of the opera season in Europe is the promiscuous new production of Wagner's "Parsifal."
New York Times (Free subscription) | 30/07/2008
Although Waltraud Meier topped a remarkable cast in Wagner’s “Tannhäuser,” the current talk of the opera season in Europe is the promiscuous new production of Wagner’s “Parsifal.”
Opera Today (Free subscription) | 30/07/2008
By MICHAEL KIMMELMAN [NY Times, 30 July 2008] BADEN-BADEN, Germany — Waltraud Meier topped a remarkable cast in Wagner’s “Tannhäuser” here the other night, although the current talk of the opera season in Europe is the promiscuous new production of Wagner’s “Parsifal,” not too far away, that opened the Bayreuth Festival on Friday: it comes a jackboot shy of “Springtime for Hitler,” but its ambitions...
The Guardian Art blog (Free subscription) | 29/07/2008
A new production of Wagner's Parsifal is opening up a can of worms in the historic city of Beyreuth
ArtsJournal (Free subscription) | 28/07/2008
"Swastika banners unfurl over the stage, Nazi SS officers goose step in formation. It has been awhile since Bayreuth looked like this. Scattered boos from the audience augment the score of Richard Wagner's Parsifal. A new era is dawning at Bayreuth's annual Wagner festival. And parts of it look unnervingly like the old one."...
The Independent (Free subscription) | 27/07/2008
The Bayreuth Festival opened last Friday with the premiere of the Norwegian director Stefan Herheim's production of Parsifal that also closes proceedings on 28 August. This new staging of Richard Wagner's final opera – written specially for the Festspielhaus (Festival Theatre) he founded in the small Bavarian town – is the major artistic event in the month-long celebration of the composer's works...
Philadelphia Inquirer (Free subscription) | 05/04/2008
Every so often, Wagnerites have their day at the Philadelphia Orchestra. The glorious impracticalities that make Wagner an object of cultlike admiration mean that the years when Leopold Stokowski celebrated Easter with concert performances of Parsifal will never come again. But at least there are evenings such as Thursday's sy
The Stage (Free subscription) | 07/12/2007
Royal Opera House, London: Klaus Michael Gruber's production of Wagner's final, enigmatic work was not much liked when first seen in 2001, and doesn't look significantly better as revived here by Elaine Hammer. Read the full review
