U.S. Book Launch of Wagnerism
2020-09-17
The Wagner Society of New York and Powerhouse Arena book store presented the Official U.S. Launch of Wagnerism: Art and Politics in the Shadow of Music by Alex Ross in Conversation with A.O. Scott on Monday, September 14. WSNY was represented by Scott Carlton, the Society’s Director of Singer’s Programs.
About the Book: Alex Ross, renowned New Yorker music critic and author of the international bestseller and Pulitzer Prize finalist The Rest Is Noise, reveals how Richard Wagner became the proving ground for modern art and politics—an aesthetic war zone where the Western world wrestled with its capacity for beauty and violence.
Alex Ross’s Wagnerism Audiovisual companion is online here.
Watch on YouTube:

Joseph W. Polisi: “Beacon to the World: A History of Lincoln Center”
2022-10-11 18:30 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | 3 West Club, 3 W51st. St., New York, 10019, United States
Description:
In a special presentation and book signing hosted by the Wagner Society of New York, Joseph W. Polisi offered a summary and archival images of the creation and growth of Lincoln Center, drawn from his recent book, Beacon to the World: A History of Lincoln Center. Copies of the book were available for sale and signing at the event. This comprehensive history of Lincoln Center for the Performing Art guides us through the complex convergence of the worlds of politics, finance, and the performing arts throughout the years of
the Center’s history, including roles played by Robert Moses, John D. Rockefeller 3rd, Leonard Bernstein, Alice Tully, Beverly Sills, and many others.
About the speaker: Joseph W. Polisi led The Juilliard School for thirty-four years (1984–2018), the longest presidential term in the history of the school. Upon stepping down from his distinguished tenure in June 2018, he became Chief China Officer, supervising overall development of The Tianjin Juilliard School. Born in New York City, Dr. Polisi is an accomplished bassoonist who has performed as soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician throughout the United States as well as in major New York City venues.

Joseph W. Polisi speaks with te Wagner Society of New York.

Book signing with Joseph W. Polisi.

Reading from "Beacon to the World: A History of Lincoln Center".

Social hour with the Wagner Society members and guests.

Watch on YouTube:

Stephen Gould Book Launch & Annual Meeting
2024-06-12 18:30 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | National Opera Center, 330 Seventh Avenue, 7th Floor, New York, NY, 10001, United States
An event to celebrate the life of Stephen Gould and the publication of his book Performing Wagner: A Singer’s Perspective on the Major Roles. Co-author Peter Phillips will relate how the book took form and lead a discussion on some of the many interesting insights that Gould offers on Wagner’s heroic characters.
At the time of his early death in autumn 2023, the internationally renowned American Heldentenor Stephen Gould was putting the finishing touches to this unusual book, where he shares his unique insights into Wagner’s major tenor roles: Tannhäuser, Tristan, Siegfried, Siegmund and Loge in The Ring of the Nibelung, Lohengrin, Erik in The Flying Dutchman and Parsifal. Basing his understanding on the experience of hundreds of performances around the world, he describes how he learned to inhabit each character, portraying motivation in a manner that matches Wagner’s music with narrative cohesion on stage. He also discusses what he learned from working with conductors and stage directors and offers some thoughts on vocal technique.
Stephen Gould
There are countless books on Wagner and his operas; this one may be the first to put the reader in the shoes of the interpreter – a novel perspective which should be of interest to students, teachers, directors, Wagner commentators and audience members, as well as to other performers and to musicians more generally. The book opens with a preface by Katharina Wagner, the composer’s great-granddaughter and director of the Bayreuth Festival, and ends with tributes to Stephen Gould from some of the leading Wagner singers of the day.
The program will be preceded by a brief Annual Membership Meeting. The purpose of the Annual Meeting is to elect the 2024-25 Board of Directors and to hear reports of the 2023-24 Officers and Committees, and to conduct any other business that may be properly raised. Your vote is needed! Members who cannot attend in person may send in (by mail or electronically, returning it to arrive no later than Noon Tuesday, June 11, 2024) the form (sent by postal mail and online here) to designate a proxy.
F. Peter Phillips
About the speaker: F. Peter Phillips, president of the Wagner Society of New York since 2022, is an attorney specializing in mediation, arbitration and dispute resolution and serves as Distinguished Adjunct Professor of Law and Director of the ADR Skills program at New York Law School. He is a cum laude graduate of Dartmouth College and trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Book Talk: Performing Wagner
2024-08-23 10:30 - 11:30 (Europe/Berlin) | Arvena Kongress Hotel, Eduard-Bayerlin Str. 5a, Bayreuth, 95445, Germany
Stephen Gould
An event to celebrate the life of Stephen Gould and the publication of his book Performing Wagner: A Singer’s Perspective on the Major Roles. Co-author Peter Phillips will relate how the book took form and lead a discussion on some of the many interesting insights that Gould offers on Wagner’s heroic characters.
At the time of his early death in autumn 2023, the internationally renowned American Heldentenor Stephen Gould was putting the finishing touches to this unusual book, where he shares his unique insights into Wagner’s major tenor roles: Tannhäuser, Tristan, Siegfried, Siegmund and Loge in The Ring of the Nibelung, Lohengrin, Erik in The Flying Dutchman and Parsifal. Basing his understanding on the experience of hundreds of performances around the world, he describes how he learned to inhabit each character, portraying motivation in a manner that matches Wagner’s music with narrative cohesion on stage. He also discusses what he learned from working with conductors and stage directors and offers some thoughts on vocal technique.

There are countless books on Wagner and his operas; this one may be the first to put the reader in the shoes of the interpreter – a novel perspective which should be of interest to students, teachers, directors, Wagner commentators and audience members, as well as to other performers and to musicians more generally. The book opens with a preface by Katharina Wagner, the composer’s great-granddaughter and director of the Bayreuth Festival, and ends with tributes to Stephen Gould from some of the leading Wagner singers of the day.

Book Launch: Wagner and the Creation of the Ring
2025-06-11 18:30 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | National Opera Center, 330 Seventh Avenue, 7th Floor, New York, NY, 10001, United States
Join the Wagner Society of New York in a special U.S. Book Release: Story of the Century: Wagner and the Creation of the Ring and a talk by its author Michael Downes. Part cultural history, part biography, this is the fascinating story of Richard Wagner’s life, influences, gift for storytelling, and artistic revolution, culminating in his dramatic journey to write The Ring Cycle. Downes states that “the Ring is a story not only from the nineteenth century, but also about it.”
Having garnered favorable reviews (Gramophone, Opera News, Edinburgh Music Review) from its November 2024 U.K. release (Faber & Faber) and named one of the 5 best music books of the year by Presto, we are proud to co-host this U.S. book launch with publishing house Pegasus Books. Credit Card orders for hardcover copies of the work will be available for pre-sale – order online here.
The event will be followed by a social hour with refreshments.
About the author: Michael Downes is a celebrated conductor, writer, lecturer, and co-author of The Wagners: The Dramas of a Musical Dynasty (Princeton University Press). He is the director of music at the University of St. Andrews, Scotland. Before moving to Scotland, he conducted numerous choral, operatic, orchestral, and contemporary music groups across England.

Livestream: the event will be livestreamed (viewable up to 36 hours after the start of the event). WSNY Members will receive livestream link automatically by e-mail; no need to pre-register.
Venue & Accessibility: The Opera America building has ground-level entry with elevators to the 7th floor. Wheelchair accessible; modular seating will be arranged to accommodate wheelchairs and walkers. Handicap-accessible restrooms are available on the same floor. The venue is located on the west side of 7th Avenue between 28th-29th Streets, closer to 29th Street. Sidewalk curb cuts at the 29th Street corner are uneven; for easier access and tactile paving enter from the 28th Street corner (at the downtown #1 subway station).

Jeffrey Swann on the Music of the Ring
2026-01-14 18:30 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | National Opera Center, 330 Seventh Avenue, 7th Floor, New York, NY, 10001, United States
Join us for a special event celebrating the release of The Music of the Ring: A Comprehensive Study of the Leitmotives and How They Are Used in Der Ring des Nibelungen. This monumental book—nearly 750 pages—offers an unparalleled deep dive into Wagner’s use of leitmotif, analyzing thousands of individual moments and hundreds of thematic phrases. With its meticulous detail and structural insights, it promises to become an essential resource for scholars, performers, and seriously engaged listeners alike. For this event, Swann will give his talk from the piano, illustrating key musical passages by playing them live at the keyboard.
The author, Jeffrey Swann, brings extraordinary expertise to the project. A celebrated American pianist and internationally renowned Wagner scholar, Swann has performed and lectured widely—from solo recitals with top orchestras in the U.S., Europe, Latin America and Asia, to lecture‑recitals at the Bayreuth Festival and numerous Wagner Society events. Swann’s dual identity as performer and scholar allows him to illuminate deeply musical and dramatic structures—from the introduction:
“Ultimately, this work rests on a paradox: it pinpoints in detail thousands of individual moments and analyzes hundreds of short phrases. Its value, on the other hand, lies in deepening and enhancing our appreciation of The Ring as a whole: to gain a better sense of its narrative and musical sweep, to understand its dynamic unity, it many structural features–and in the end, to gain deeper insights into its meanings.”
The event will be followed by a social hour with refreshments. Copies of the book will be available for purchase at the event.
The program will be preceded by a brief Annual Membership Meeting. The purpose of the Annual Meeting is to elect the 2026-27 Board of Directors and the transaction of such other business as may properly come before the meeting. Your vote is needed! Members of record will receive proxy forms by postal and email or can download here.
Livestream: the event will be livestreamed (viewable up to 36 hours after the start of the event). WSNY Members receive livestream link automatically by e-mail; no need to pre-register.
