The Dresden Wagner Project is touring Europe's music capitals

The Dresden Music Festival has made history with its Wagner project and is now continuing to present it in major European music centers. Following a performance on Thursday at the Lucerne Festival, “Götterdämmerung,” the final part of “Der Ring des Nibelungen,” will be presented on Sunday at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris, according to a festival announcement. The entire Dresden “Ring” will be performed at the Konzerthaus in Vienna in May 2027.

Sound as it did in Wagner’s lifetime

Since 2023, the Music Festival has been presenting the “Ring” tetralogy under the title “The Wagner Cycles”—performed on historical instruments and in the vocal and linguistic style of Wagner’s time. The aim was for the “Ring” to sound as it must have to listeners at the time of its creation. Scholars from Austria and abroad were involved in the project. The musical realization of the “Ring” parts, performed in concert format, was entrusted to the Dresden Festival Orchestra and Concerto Köln under the baton of Kent Nagano.

The Wagner project made headlines. For example, the 2024 performance of *Die Walküre* at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam was praised by *The New York Times* as one of the best classical performances of the year worldwide. In *Die Walküre* and *Götterdämmerung*, for example, specially crafted ox horns can be heard in some passages instead of the brass instruments commonly used today. The Wagner Cycle has earned a permanent place in the history of *The Ring*’s reception, emphasized Festival Director Jan Vogler. 

Following the performances at the Dresden Festival, the individual parts of “The Ring” were staged at renowned European concert halls. These included the Prague National Opera, the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg, the Philharmonie de Paris, and the Ravello Festival in Italy.