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

N/A

Gabriela Scherer

Irene

N/A

Andreas Bauer Kanabas

Stefano Colonna

Jennifer Holloway

Adriano

N/A

Michael Nagy

Paolo Orsini

Vitalij Kowaljow

Raimondo

N/A

Matthias Stier

Baroncelli

N/A

Michael Kupfer-Radecky

Cecco del Vecchio

N/A

Victoria Randem

The Messenger of Peace