Wagner Society of New York

New York, NY

Wagner Society of New York

New York, NY

About Us

Bayreuth 2023

August 21-25, 2023: WSNY English Language Events:
Attending Bayreuth this year? Join the Wagner Society of New York for these in-person events.

Artists’ Talks

Explore the works in-depth with the artists performing in the Festival. These performers will discuss their careers, the challenges and rewards of working at Bayreuth, and will answer audience questions in an informal atmosphere. All programs are in English and will start at 10:30 a.m. and last one hour, held at the Arvena Kongress Hotel.
Admission is $20 in advance, 20€ at the door but advance purchase is strongly advised.

Monday, 21 August: Klaus Florian Vogt (Tannhäuser in Tannhäuser, Siegmund in Die Walküre)
Tuesday, 22 August: Stephanie Houtzeel (Wellgunde and Siegrune in Ring Cycle)
Wednesday, 23 August: Rixon Thomas (English Horn in Tristan und Isolde) Derek Welton (Amfortas in Parsifal)
Thursday, 24 August: Catherine Foster (Brünnhilde in Ring Cycle, Isolde in Tristan und Isolde)
Friday, 25 August: Betsy Horne (Flower Maiden in Parsifal)

Tickets available online here.
Downloadable program here.

New! Walking Tour

Following Wagner’s Tracks
Wednesday, 23 August, 12:00 noon – 2:00 p.m.
$5 per person
Enjoy a private walking tour with a local Wagner expert! The Bayreuth city tour goes to numerous locations in the historical inner city, to places which played a part in Richard Wagner’s life. The tour, with little-known stories and anecdotes from the everyday life of Wagner, is also an way to get to know Wagner as a person. Meeting point: noon sharp at the Tourist-Information Office, Opernstraße 22, Bayreuth.
Tickets available online here. 
New! Beer Tasting

Bayreuth’s Beer Varieties
Friday, 25 August,
 4:00 – 6:00 p.m.
Enjoy a private beer tasting hosted at Maisel & Friends, the home of Bayreuth’s famous Hefe-Weissbier. A sommelier will guide us through the many beers brewed in Bayreuth, from traditional bottom-fermented Franconian classics and wheat beer styles to modern beer specialties that are still crafted under the Bavarian Purity Law of 1516. Meeting place: Andreas-Maisel-Weg 1, Bayreuth, at the entrance to Liebesbier restaurant.
Tickets available online here.

The 2023 Bayreuth Festival opera performance schedule is now online here.

2023 New Production: Parsifal opens the Festival on July 25, directed by Jay Scheib, conducted by Pablo Heras-Casado, and starring Joseph Calleja. Three Ring cycles will be presented (July 26-31, August 5-10, and August 21-26), as well as Tannhäuser, Der fliegende Holländer, and Tristan und Isolde.

Access to Bayreuth Tickets through WSNY

The Wagner Society of New York is able to offer members exclusive opportunities to apply for Bayreuth Festival tickets, which are reserved for current Members in at least the Regular or Dual Member categories, and are subject to availability. If you are interested in obtaining tickets for the 2023
Bayreuth Festival through the WSNY, please send an email to info@wagnersocietyny.org, with your  contact information (phone, email and address), as well as any price or date preferences and the number of sets of tickets requested. As of April 2023 we have fulfilled a number of Bayreuth ticket requests; please contact us to see of any current availability. Priority will first be given to members who have not received tickets recently, and then by order of receipt of application. Note that an additional contribution equal to 15% of the ticket price will be added.

Other ways to obtain Bayreuth Tickets:

1. If you are a member of the Gesellschaft der Freunde von Bayreuth, you will receive their full information on the Festival with order forms; expected in mid-Dec.

2. The Bayreuther Festspiele sent direct order documents from the ticket office (Kartenbüro) at the end of 2022. In the past, you could purchase a maximum of four tickets per work, for a total of 12 tickets. However, tickets from the ticket office usually require a multi-year wait, so you are unlikely to  receive a ticket allocation through the Bayreuth ticket office in your first year of application.

3. In the last few years, a portion of the total number of Bayreuth Festival tickets is also available through immediate online sale, in a process separate from the ticket office orders described in (3) above. Online ordering will begin in May 2023, and popular productions (such as the Ring Cycle in 2022) tend to sell out very quickly.