Wagner Society of New York

Recital with Jeffrey Swann, pianist
2022-01-30 15:00 - 16:00 UTC | Klavierhaus, 790 11th Ave., New York, NY, 10019, United States
Jeffrey Swann is a renowned international recitalist. Also a Wagner scholar, he has given many lectures with piano illustrations and often gives talks at WSNY’s annual seminar. He teaches piano at NYU Steinhardt. He recently presented a Beethoven Sonata Series at Bargemusic in Brooklyn and has recorded the complete Beethoven Sonatas.
Program: Scenes from Götterdämmerung and Franz Schubert: Sonata in B flat major, D.960 (Schubert’s last composition, 40 min.)

From Richard I to Richard III: Wagner, Strauss and Questions of Influence
2022-03-06 15:00 - 16:00 UTC | Klavierhaus, 790 11th Ave., New York, NY, 10019, United States
Prof. Muller’s lecture, with musical and visual illustrations, highlighted the Met’s upcoming Strauss operas: Ariadne auf Naxos (March 1–17, 2022) and Elektra (April 1–20, 2022). A Juilliard professor since 1980, Prof. Muller also lectures for other organizations and he presented WSNY’s Bayreuth lectures from 2010–2019.
From Richard I to Richard III: it’s not a typo! Prof. Muller states: “There is no Richard II, that’s the point. There had to be an interregnum after Wagner. This idea goes back to Hans von Bülow, who made the remark about Richard I and III.”
Supplementary materials:
Click here for the List of Strauss Operas
Click here for the Wagner-Strauss Orchestral Comparison

Talk with Stefan Vinke
2022-04-18 17:00 - 18:00 UTC | 3 West Club, 3 W51st. St., New York, 10019, United States
Interview with Stefan Vinke, heldentenor, Aegisth in Elektra and Siegfried in the 2019 Met Ring, guest of honor on the Ring cruise.
Interview Host: Fred Cohn.
Watch on YouTube:

A Tribute to Hans Neuenfels
2022-05-15 15:00 - 16:15 UTC | NY
Hans Neuenfels (1914-2022): director of the Bayreuth 2010-1015 (“rats”) Lohengrin. Commentary by colleagues, with illustrations and excerpts from his memoirs. Moderator: Scott Carlton (member of Bayreuth chorus for Neuenfels’ Lohengrin.)

Watch on YouTube:

Wagner Masterclass
2022-09-13 18:30 - 2022-09-30 21:00 UTC | NY
An Evening of Wagner Duets and Trios in a Masterclass with Carole Farley and Scott Carlton, with collaborative pianist Craig Ketter, presented by New York Chamber Music Festival, in collaboration with WSNY. The program included Wagner Duets and Trios from Tristan und Isolde, Der Fliegende Holländer, Lohengrin and Die Walküre. Ms. Farley and Mr. Carlton worked on points of dramatic interpretation, diction and style, with:

Roseanne Ackerley, soprano (see www.roseanneackerley.com/)
Alison Bolshoi, mezzo (see www.alisonbolshoi.com)
Jeremy Brauner, tenor* (see www.jeremybrauner.com)
Errin Duane Brooks, Tenor* (see www.newamsterdamopera.org/errin-brooks-jean)
Leah Crowne, soprano* (see www.randsman.com/leah-crowne)
Chantelle Grant, mezzo (see www.chantellegrant.com)
Mary-Hollis Hundley, soprano* (see www.maryhollishundley.com)
Michael Nansel, bass-baritone (see www.michaelnansel.com)
Andrew Richardson, bass-baritone* (see www.newamsterdamopera.org/adam-cioffari-bethune)
Elisabeth Rosenberg, soprano* (see www.elisabethrosenberg.com/)
Daniel Sutin, bass-baritone (see www.danielsutin.com)
Susan Wheeler, soprano* (see www.susanwheeler.info)
Amanda Zory, soprano* (www.amandazory.com)

* Wagner Society of New York Singers Award/Grant Recipient.

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:

Tenors Clay Hilley and Issachah Savage
2022-12-06 19:00 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | NY
Description:
Wagner Society grantees Clay Hilley and Issachah Savage recently recorded a thrilling interview with Society Singers Program Director Scott Carlton, and was videocast to WSNY members.
For many years, the Society has been honored to support careers of young Wagnerians who have subsequently built major careers. Hilley and Savage are among the most recent and most prominent. Tenor Clay Hilley was then singing Tristan at the Deutsche Oper Berlin. Tenor Issachah Savage had just completed a run of Idomeneo at the Metropolitan Opera. We are thrilled that they agreed to engage in a joint discussion with Scott. These two young artists share meaningful and insightful reflections on their work, their careers and their aspirations.
Watch on YouTube:

Lohengrin Vocal Showcase
2023-02-11 15:00 - 16:30 (America/New_York) | Kaplan Penthouse, 70 Lincoln Center Plz., New York, 10023, United States
In partnership with the Metropolitan Opera Guild, a vocal showcase featuring excerpts from Wagner’s Lohengrin.
Lohengrin is the third opera of Wagner’s middle period, and it continues a style of tonality that the composer had developed earlier in Tannhäuser. Lohengrin’s musical style also anticipates Wagner’s future leitmotif technique and, as with all of his operas and later musikdramas, reflects the bigger-than-life form of grand opera. Join Jane Marsh at the Kaplan Penthouse as she and four soloists explore this thrilling white-knight fairy tale.
Carami Hilaire (WSNY grantee) – Elsa
Amanda Zory (WSNY awardee) – Ortrud
Nicholas Simpson – Lohengrin
Daniel Sutin – Telramund
Craig Ketter – Pianist

Pianist Craig Ketter and vocalists

Wagner's Music in Classic Hollywood Cartoons
2023-02-17 18:30 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | National Opera Center, 330 Seventh Avenue, 7th Floor, New York, NY, 10001, United States
Description:
Scholarship met fun in this delightful evening. Prof. Goldmark opened our eyes to the pervasive presence of Richard Wagner in the popular American culture of the mid 20th Century. Profusely illustrated by clips of hilarious cartoons such as the classic What’s Opera, Doc? which is the source of the immortal lines, “Kill the wabbit” and “Oh Bwunhilde you’re so lovely.”
Prof. Daniel Goldmark, Director of Popular Music Studies, Case Western Reserve University. Prof. Daniel Goldmark works on American popular music, film and cartoon music, the history of the music industry, and popular music in Cleveland. He is the author of Tunes for ‘Toons: Music and the Hollywood Cartoon (California, 2005).

Daniel Goldmark presents the characterization of classical music in the golden age of Hollywood cartoons.

2023 Lohengrin Seminar
2023-03-19 00:00 - 16:00 UTC | The Leonard Nimoy Thalia, Peter Norton Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway at W 95th St, New York, NY, 10025, United States
Description:
Our 42nd annual seminar, a half-day deep-dive into the world of Wagner’s Swan Knight. Moderated by composer and conductor Victoria Bond, with a presentation by Dr. Katherine Syer “Wagner’s Lohengrin: Blending Art and Life, On Stage and Off”; an interview with new production director François Girard; a roundtable with the Met cast featuring Günther Groissböck, Brian Mulligan, Piotr Beczała, and Tamara Wilson; a panel discussion with Met Orchestra Members Musicians Jason Haaheim, Timpani, Principal (The Rosaline Miranda Chair); Jessica Phillips, Clarinet (The Ruth and Harvey R. Miller Charitable Fund Chair); Thomas Lausmann, Director of Music Administration; and William Short, Bassoon, Principal; the program ended with Prof. Jeffrey Swann on “Good and Evil: The Musical Duality of Lohengrin”.

Met Cast Roundtable: Günther Groissböck, Brian Mulligan, Piotr Beczała, Tamara Wilson, interviewed by Victoria Bond

“The extent to which being exposed night after night to the greatest voices in the world influences our playing and our relationship to music” – William Short (bassoon), discussing the difference between symphonic and opera playing. With The Met Orchestra Roundtable: Jason Haaheim, Timpani; Jessica Phillips, Clarinet; Thomas Lausmann, Director of Music Administration; William Short, Bassoon

“Anything we play has a purpose. In Lohengrin, every moment ties into the story telling and ties into what the singers are doing. That to me is incredibly meaningful.” – Thomas Lausmann (Met Opera Director of Music Administration)

“The reason why the Met Orchestra in particular is so incredibly flexible is because we're always listening to that voice; there's something about the breath and the tone quality, especially with Wagnerian voices, that we're trying to follow. There's never a dull moment in opera; there's always something wonderful happening.” – Jessica Phillips (Clarinet)

Baritone Brian Mulligan (Herald)

Soprano Tamara Wilson (Elsa)

Tenor Piotr Beczała (Lohengrin)

Tenor Errin Duane Brooks (Nobleman)

Bass Günther Groissböck (King Heinrich)

Director François Girard discusses his new production of Lohengrin

Jeffrey Swann, NYU Steinhardt – piano faculty, concert pianist and lecturer

Katherine Syer on Lohengrin: Blending Art & Life, Onstage & Off

YouTube Links:

Download Lohengrin Seminar Program

Wagner & German Nationalism with Prof. Michael P. Steinberg
2023-04-17 18:30 - 20:30 UTC | National Opera Center, 330 Seventh Avenue, 7th Floor, New York, NY, 10001, United States
Description:
Prof. Michael P. Steinberg of Brown University and co-curator of the recent exhibit in Berlin’s German Historical Museum explained the influence of Wagner on German nationalism in the mid-19th century and its lasting impact on German self-identity. As Prof. Steinberg explained to The New York Times, “You can’t have a naïve and beautiful production of a Wagner opera in Germany. It’s impossible.” The presentation took place at the National Opera Center in New York City, followed by a social hour with refreshments.

“In Germany... every production of Wagner has to take the history of Wagner, the political history of Wagner, the history of German taste into account. There is no way to be innocent about Wagner in Germany.” – Prof. Michael P. Steinberg (Brown University)

Members & guests socialize after the presentation

F. Peter Philips welcomes members and guests to the evening’s presentation

Members & guests socialize after the presentation

Members & guests socialize after the presentation

YouTube Link:

Annual Recital with Shanley Horvitz
2023-05-21 14:00 - 16:30 (America/Halifax) | Marjorie S. Deane Little Theatre, 10 W 64th St., New York, NY, 10023, United States
Our Annual Recital featured mezzo-soprano Shanley Horvitz accompanied by pianist Craig Ketter in a selection of pieces by Wagner (including the Wesendonck Lieder), Ravel, Dvořák, and Janáček. Ms. Horvitz was the WSNY’s 2022 Lauch awardee and has been reviewed “to spin lovely, warm legato phrases, replete with ease of emission, dynamic variety, elegance, yet holding obvious power in reserve.”
About Shanley Horvitz:
Shanley had a fruitful competition season in 2022 winning 1st place of the International Orpheus Competition, 2nd place Opera San Jose Irene Dalis Competition, 2nd place Pasadena Vocal Competition, 1st place Houston Gilbert & Sullivan Career Grant Competition, 3rd place Opera Florham, 1st place of the 2021 Mario Lanza Institute Competition, 1st place of the Vienna Summer Music Festival. Recent debuts of Anacoana in Franchetti’s Cristoforo Colombo with Teatro Grattacielo, Jezibaba, Rusalka, and the title role in Bizet’s Carmen which she debuted in concert at Carnegie Hall. Recently she also debuted Donna Elvira, Don Giovanni at Palais Ehrbar, where she was seen in concert with the PolyMuse Orchestra under Maestro Anton Yeretsky. Shanley is from the Philadelphia area and based part time in Liguria, Italy; she is a graduate of Westminster Choir College.

Shanley Horvitz in recital.

Shanley Horvitz in recital.

Shanley Horvitz with pianist Craig Ketter.

Maestro Thomas Guggeis on Conducting Wagner
2023-06-07 16:30 - 18:30 (America/Halifax) | National Opera Center, 330 Seventh Avenue, 7th Floor, New York, NY, 10001, United States
Maestro Thomas Guggeis shared his insights into the challenges of conducting the Ring in Berlin and Der fliegende Holländer at the Metropolitan Opera, with particular emphasis on the influence of bel canto tradition in Wagner’s vocal writing.
Thomas Guggeis created an international stir in March 2018 when he was tapped to take over a highly acclaimed new production of Salome from Christoph von Dohnányi at the Staatsoper unter den Linden in Berlin, where he was subsequently named Staatskapellmeister for the 2019/20 to 2022/23 seasons. In 2022, Maestro Guggeis conducted the second Ring cycle in place of Daniel Barenboim. In October 2021 he was named Music Director-designate of the Oper Frankfurt as of 2023/24, where he will also assume artistic leadership of the Frankfurt Museumskonzerte. At the time of our event, Guggeis was making his debuts at the Metropolitan Opera and the Santa Fe Opera with Der fliegende Holländer.

Conductor Thomas Guggeis demonstrates motifs from Der fliegende Holländer.

Maestro Thomas Guggeis speaks with Prof. John J. H. Muller IV and members and guests of the Wagner Society of New York.

Maestro Guggeis takes some time to talk with WSNY members before the evening's performance.

Annual Meeting
2023-07-19 18:30 - 20:30 UTC | National Opera Center, 330 Seventh Avenue, 7th Floor, New York, NY, 10001, United States
The purpose of the Annual Meeting is to elect the 2023-24 Board of Directors and to hear reports of the 2022-23 Officers and Committees, and to conduct any other business that may be properly raised.

2023 Bayreuth Festival
2023-08-21 08:00 - 2023-08-25 17:00 UTC | NY
Artist Talk: Klaus Florian Vogt
Date/Time: August 21, 2023 10:00 am
Description: Exploring the works in-depth with the artists performing in the Festival, here speaking with Klaus Florian Vogt (Tannhäuser in Tannhäuser, Siegmund in Die Walküre). These performers discussed their careers, the challenges and rewards of working at Bayreuth, and answered audience questions in an informal atmosphere.

08.21 Vogt 1

08.21 Vogt 2

Artist Talk: Stephanie Houtzeel
Date/Time: August 22, 2023 10:00 am
Description: Exploring the works in-depth with the artists performing in the Festival, here speaking with Stephanie Houtzeel (Wellgunde and Siegrune in Ring Cycle). These performers discussed their careers, the challenges and rewards of working at Bayreuth, and answered audience questions in an informal atmosphere.

Artist Talk: Derek Welton
Date/Time: August 23, 2023 10:00 am
Description: Exploring the works in-depth with the artists performing in the Festival, here speaking with Derek Welton (Amfortas in Parsifal). These performers discussed their careers, the challenges and rewards of working at Bayreuth, and answered audience questions in an informal atmosphere.

Artist Talk: Catherine Foster
Date/Time: August 24, 2023 10:00 am
Description: Exploring the works in-depth with the artists performing in the Festival, here speaking with Catherine Foster (Brünnhilde in Ring Cycle, Isolde in Tristan und Isolde). These performers discussed their careers, the challenges and rewards of working at Bayreuth, and answered audience questions in an informal atmosphere.

08.24 Foster1a

08.24 Foster2

Artist Talk: Betsy Horne
Date/Time: August 25, 2023 10:00 am
Description: Exploring the works in-depth with the artists performing in the Festival, here speaking with Betsy Horne (Flower Maiden in Parsifal). These performers discussed their careers, the challenges and rewards of working at Bayreuth, and answered audience questions in an informal atmosphere.

Recent Wagner Productions
2023-09-19 19:00 - 20:00 UTC | National Opera Center, 330 Seventh Avenue, 7th Floor, New York, NY, 10001, United States
Description:
Our well-traveled Society members reported on productions of Wagner operas in the U.S. and abroad, including Opera Atlanta’s Das Rheingold, the Bayreuth Festival’s Parsifal, and Ring Cycles in Budapest and Vienna. We also had a presentation by bass-baritone Joseph Parrish, our 2023 Bayreuth stipendiat, and a talk with two young WSNY members about their first Bayreuth experience. After the presentations we hosted a social hour with refreshments.

Social hour at the National Opera Center

Bass-Baritone Joseph Parrish discusses his experience visiting Bayreuth as a WSNY stipendiat

Caroline Couch and Ethan Osman discuss their first visit to the green hill

Bruce Patrick discusses the Augmented Reality implementation for Parsifal

Kevin Salinger discusses Parsifal at Bayreuth

David Shengold discusses the Santa Fe production of Der fliegende Holländer

F. Peter Philips introduces the Recent Wagner Productions program

Talk with Metropolitan Opera Concertmaster David Chan
2023-10-18 18:30 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | National Opera Center, 330 Seventh Avenue, 7th Floor, New York, NY, 10001, United States
Description:
Our guest speaker, Maestro David Chan, in his 24th season as concertmaster of New York’s Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, which performs almost daily under a constantly changing series of conductors. Mr. Chan discussed those challenges, as well as his experiences as an orchestral conductor in the United States and in Europe.
Mr. Chan is a member of the faculty of the Juilliard School and serves as Head of the Orchestral Performance Program at the Manhattan School of Music. Mr. Chan also recently served as Music Director of the APEX Ensemble and Camerata Notturna. He has conducted the Mainly Mozart’s All-Star Orchestra, the combined musicians of the LA Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphony, as well as the Met Orchestra and the National Symphony Orchestra. Recent conducting engagements have included Belgium’s l’Orchestre Philharmonique Royal de Liège, the Malta Philharmonic Orchestra, and l’Orchestre Dijon Bourgogne in France, the Grant Park and Classical Tahoe summer festivals, the Juilliard Orchestra and Manhattan School of Music in New York City, and the Apollo Orchestra in Washington, D.C. He is co-founder of Musique et Vin au Clos Vougeot festival in the Burgundy region of France, which pairs wine tastings with music.
The event was followed by a social hour with refreshments.

“I have a very different tolerance of mistakes as well, as a player and as a conductor”

“I’m much more interested in the structure of a movement. So I’ve marked off 4-bar phrases here: two bars of introduction and then 4 bars / 4 bars / 4 bars / 4 bars … what I’ve found is, if I understand how a house is built – and Bruckner’s symphonies are built like cathedrals – it’s all about numbers … he actually put in the period numbering that he was going to use for structure in his score before he wrote any melody. He’s the only composer who did that. And it shows the importance of structure.” – David Chan on Mahler’s Symphony No. 4.

“I had a Soviet-trained teacher […] his training was based around going to the major international competitions and striving to become a soloist. So it was that type of training I did. I owe the technical facility and the physical foundation I have for making music to that.”

Location:
The National Opera Center, 330 Seventh Avenue, New York, NY.
Pricing:
Free for members, $15 for non-members, live in-person or online (video stream available 48 hours after start of program).
Livestream:
WSNY members will receive the livestream link automatically by email; the event is viewable until 48 hours after it begins.
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).

Film: Global Wagner: From Bayreuth to the World
2023-11-08 18:30 - 21:30 (America/New_York) | Dolby Screening Room, 1350 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY, 10019, United States
Documentary screening
Global Wagner – From Bayreuth to the World is not a biography of Richard Wagner, nor is it a musicological analysis of his work. This is a documentary dedicated solely to the world’s fascination with the man, and an exploration of the question as to how such massive hype and world-wide cult following developed around this highly controversial artist. The film is a revealing feature-length study of life with Wagner’s legacy from one Bayreuth Festival to the next, and we travel the world to meet devoted Wagnerians and those most intimately involved in commenting on and producing his work today.
In-person only.
Doors at 6:30 p.m., film begins at 6:45 p.m., general admission seating. Runtime: 97 minutes.
Screening will be followed by a social hour with refreshments.
Accessiblity & Covid-19 Info:
Venue is ADA accessible. Entrance is on 55th street at 6th Avenue, next door to Pret à Manger. There are sidewalk cutouts on the corner and an accessible entrance. Once through building security turnstiles, the movie theater-style-seating venue is on the lobby level, to your left. There are several stairs to the lobby level restroom but fully-accessible restrooms will be available by taking the elevator to another floor.
Dolby will not be physically checking vaccination status (or negative test) for screening visitors. In order to enter the Dolby facility, you will be asked to acknowledge the following when checking in at our Envoy station: that all visitors are fully vaccinated against or have tested negative for COVID-19 within 24 hours prior to their visit; that you do not enter if you are sick or symptomatic; visitors must remain in designated areas within the Dolby facility and will follow all health and safety instructions provided by Dolby and your Dolby host. Masks are *welcome* for all but not required.
View the trailer:

Tannhäuser Seminar
2023-12-10 12:00 - 16:30 (America/New_York) | Bohemian National Hall, 321 E 73rd St., Third Floor, New York, 10021, United States
Tannhäuser Seminar
“I still owe the world a Tannhäuser” – Richard Wagner
A half-day exploration of Wagner’s opera, our annual seminar offers a deep-dive into the work and coincides with the Met Opera production this winter.

“Remember, composers do not always develop stylistically in a linear manner. For instance, the most forward-looking scene in Tannhäuser is the Rome Narrative. It's the only place where Wagner has a variety of motifs unfolding in the orchestra, where the vocal part is really written in response to the text. There's nothing else like it in the piece: that was there in 1845; that wasn't changed later.” - John J. H. Muller IV, “Tannhäuser: Thoughts on the Different Versions”

Met Cast Roundtable: Elza van den Heever (Elisabeth), Ekaterina Gubanova (Venus), George Zeppenfeld (Landgraf), Christian Gerhaher (Wolfram)

"I think even for [Venus], [Tannhäuser] is special, he's not like any other mortal. He's an artist, he's an exceptional artist, and she feels for him. What I like thinking when I'm in it, when I'm on stage with all these manipulations and mood changes that she has, I like thinking that there's a fight inside her between a woman and a goddess. So there is something still in her that is very womanlike, very real. And then the goddess takes over." - Ekaterina Gubanova (Venus)

“Isn't it interesting that mostly in Wagner operas, it's mostly not the fathers who care for the daughters? It is the uncle, this main positive relationship. You look at Daland, and also at Pogner, they are only busy to get them married - with some advantage for themselves. So maybe Wagner is mirroring his own life in many of his operas. He doesn't have a good idea of fathers. [...] it's always problematic.” - Georg Zeppenfeld

"It's very intimate, I love working with Georg [Zeppenfeld], because he does feel very fatherly to me. [laughs] It's that awkward thing when you're trying to talk to your parents about relationships. It is awkward, but beautiful and intimate, and I love this tiny little interaction. But also during the Singerfest and during this awful dismantlement of the situation we're in, we're sort of still in character. We never break character, that's really nice, to work with someone who's so committed on stage. I love it." - Elza van den Heever (Elisabeth)

"The tragic origin of this opera I think is a little bit in the last scene of the first act: showing that Wolfram has to re-invite [Tannhäuser], get him back, in order to see Elisabeth again: which he needs - to see her - because he's so infatuated. But on the other hand he knows: it will be the reunion of Tannhäuser and Elisabeth, because she loves him, and he maybe loves her as well. So it is a tragic decision he [Wolfram] has to take. Out of this decision, I think, the whole horror in the second act and third act, certainly, has its origin." - Christian Gerhaher (Wolfram)

On the clarinet/bassoon/horn ensemble playing: "It's hard in the pit because usually the horns and clarinets are really far apart. For Tannhäuser we're a little closer, but not close enough that we can really fit into each other's sounds. But when we rehearsed downstairs, the horns were right behind the clarinets: so it was really easy to start off on the right foot, and get everyone listening the right way and trying to blend, so that when we got into the pit, even though there's more distance, we're still listening for the same things, we're still thinking about it the same way." - Anton Rist, Principal Clarinet

"[Tannhäuser] is really satisfying because it's technical, but yet you can hear the clarity of it, and also in this opera, Wagner is very kind to strings. Because usually it's so heavy throughout, especially Meistersinger. This one is so kind, because the first act is hardest. The second act is challenging but it's shorter. And then the third act: we're on vacation!" - Wen Qian, Violin

"The horn is lucky in the orchestra, because we are a brass instrument, but we also really are a woodwind element as well. And it's such a pleasure to play both sides of the colors. [...] In Tannhäuser, [Wagner] says 1st and 2nd Horn, and 3rd and 4th Horns are actually 1st and 2nd Waldhorn. Wagner wrote for 2-valve Horn, and valveless horn. He wanted to achieve smoothness in ther lyricism. So sometimes 3rd and 4th horn are playing by themselves with the woodwinds." - Anne M. Scharer, French Horn

"I have written in my part: I know who's singing during the song contest. I know who's singing, and Wagner's writing actually changes depending on which character is singing. For example Wolfram, every time he sings, the harp part: he uses the full range of the instrument: lots of arpeggios that start from the bass, all the way up to the treble of the instrument. As opposed to when Tannhäuser or Biterolf are singing, it's more of a repetitive, sort of plucking texture. And so every time I'm playing, I know who's singing, and I try to keep that in mind: I'm not just playing the notes on the page, I'm trying to show the different character that is singing at that time." - Hannah Cope, Principal Harp

On the Castellucci Tannhäuser production (2017 Munich, 2023 Salzburg): "Sometimes the stage pictures are very beautiful, sometimes merely puzzling - at least on a first watching. [...] in the final act, Castellucci brings his own agenda to the foreground, falling back on a practice of his I call "clinical humanism": his use of technical imagery, such as chemical formulas, to remind a viewer of the universal and immutable physical that affect every human body." - Susan Brodie, “Recent Tannhäuser Productions: Conflicts between Individual Desires and the Common Good”

Members and guests browse the books and merchandise for sale.

Program:
12:00 noon: Introduction by David Shengold, music critic and lecturer
12:05 – 12:55 pm: John J. H. Muller IV “Tannhäuser: Thoughts on the Different Versions”
Tannhäuser contains elements drawn from the traditions of 19th-century opera as well as more forward-looking stylistic features. A study of the versions of the work, spanning a period of over thirty years, demonstrates Wagner’s growth as a composer and dramatist.
1:15 – 2:00 pm: Met Cast Roundtable
Elza van den Heever (Elisabeth)
Christian Gerhaher (Wolfram)
Ekaterina Gubanova (Venus)
George Zeppenfeld (Landgraf)
other cast members TBC
2:15 – 3:05 pm: Met Orchestra Musicians Roundtable
Hannah Cope, Principal Harp
Wen Qian, Violin
Anton Rist, Principal Clarinet
Anne M. Scharer, French Horn
3:20 – 4:10 pm: Susan Brodie, “Recent Tannhäuser Productions: Conflicts between Individual Desires and the Common Good”
Download a PDF of the program here.
Books & Merchandise for sale. Refreshments served. Doors open at 11:30 a.m.
In-person & livestreamed (viewable online through midnight Dec. 12)

Venue & Accessibility: Bohemian National Hall, 321 East 73rd Street (between 1st Street-2nd Avenue), Third Floor
There are smooth sidewalk cutouts at 73rd & Second Ave.; those at First Ave. are uneven. Look for the access ramp to Bohemian Spirit Restaurant to the left of the Hall; the venue is fully accessible. WSNY Seminar is on the 3rd Floor, via elevators, and seating can be arranged to accommodate walkers and wheelchairs. ADA compliant restrooms are conveniently located on the same floor.

Barry Millington: A Collision of Like-Minded Souls
2024-01-14 15:00 - 16:00 (America/New_York) | NY
Barry Millington (editor of The Wagner Journal, author of The Sorcerer of Bayreuth) will join us from England in a pre-recorded talk to discuss his recent research on the relationship among Wagner, painter Edward Burne-Jones, and author George Eliot. These three sensationally gifted late-18th century artists had substantial influence on each other and the age in which they lived. Millington calls it “A Collision of Like-Minded Souls.” This is a members-only, online-only event; members will receive a livestream link automatically via e-mail; no need to pre-register.
About the speaker: Barry Millington is Chief Music Critic for the London Evening Standard and founder/editor of The Wagner Journal. He is the author and editor or co-editor of eight books on Wagner, including Wagner, The Wagner Compendium, The Ring of the Nibelung: A Companion and Selected Letters of Richard Wagner, and also contributed the articles on Wagner and his operas to The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians and The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. His latest Wagner book, The Sorcerer of Bayreuth, was published by Thames & Hudson/OUP in 2012. He was the founder and artistic director of the Hampstead & Highgate Festival (1999–2003), has acted as dramaturgical adviser at international opera houses, and co-founded the ensemble Counterpoise, working with artists such as Sir John Tomlinson and Sir Willard White. He was co-director of Wagner 200, a wide-ranging series of events celebrating the bicentenary of Wagner’s birth in 2013, and is known also as a broadcaster and lecturer. He organises concerts and a music appreciation series in Hampstead Garden Suburb and has belatedly begun to develop a low-profile career locally as a collaborative pianist.

“Long Live America!”: Wagner and the New World
2024-02-28 18:30 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | National Opera Center, 330 Seventh Avenue, 7th Floor, New York, NY, 10001, United States
Scholar Hans Vaget returns to offer thoughts on Wagner’s relationship with America. This lecture offers a condensed English version of Prof. Vaget’s recent book, Richard Wagners Amerika. Eine Ausgrabung (2022). Examining Wagner’s repeatedly stated intention to emigrate to America, and drawing on the privately printed Reminiscences of his American dentist, N.S. Jenkins, we can now reassess the role of America in Wagner’s imagination. Dr. Jenkins was a much sought-after cutting edge dentist who treated Wagner and became a friend. Prof. Vaget highlights the lasting, though largely obscured attachment of the creator of The Ring to the revolutionary heritage of the United States. He shines a light on the prominent role of American dentistry in Europe, and illuminates a little-known but surprisingly revealing aspect of German American cultural relations in the Nineteenth Century.

"The creator of The Ring was driven to deception by the well-founded fear that the legacy he wished to bequeath to the German nation - the annual festival at Bayreuth - was far from being secured. ... [King Ludwig's] generosity regularly needed to be reanimated; if all else should fail, by threats of immigration."

"Even after the idea of immigration had shed its semblance of seriousness, Richard Wagner and Cosima kept talking about America as a dream destination. In the Summer of 1880, still in Naples, Cosima noted on July 12 'America constantly in our conversations.' Two days later: 'and again and again America'. Wagner in an almost giddy mood, fantasizing about a voyage to America 'in order to make his fortune, visions of us all arriving in California in a royal carriage'. This is why Cosima's diary is so delicious: because you get lots of details like that."

Hans Vaget on Wagner & America, February 2024

In-person, followed by a social hour with refreshments, and 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.
About the speaker: Hans Rudolf Vaget, a native of Marienbad (Czechoslovakia), received his academic training at the universities of Munich, Tuebingen, Cardiff (Wales), and Columbia University, New York, where he earned a PhD in German literature. From 1967 to 2004 he taught German Studies and Comparative Literature at Smith College. He is the author of books on Goethe, Thomas Mann, and Wagner; most recently (2022): Richard Wagners Amerika. Eine Ausgrabung (Excavating Wagner’s America). Associated with the WSNY since the 1980s, he served, from 2005 to 2013, as co-editor of wagnerspectrum, the first independent journal of Wagner Studies; he also contributes regularly to The Wagner Journal and Wagner Notes. He first visited the Bayreuth Festival in 1959 and returned frequently.

Art & Social Transformation
2024-03-07 18:30 - 21:00 (America/New_York) | National Opera Center, 330 Seventh Avenue, 7th Floor, New York, NY, 10001, United States
New York University Professor Larry Wolff joins us to discuss Wagner’s convictions of “Art and Social Transformation.” Quite beyond Wagner’s revolutionary fervor of 1848-49, he had a deep conviction that art, by its very nature, had the power to clarify, incite, and advance our society.
An in-person talk, followed by a social hour with refreshments, and livestreamed (viewable up to 36 hours from the start of the program). WSNY Members will receive livestream link automatically by e-mail; no need to register in advance.
About the speaker: Larry Wolff is the Julius Silver Professor of History at New York University. He received his A.B. from Harvard University and his Ph.D. from Stanford University. At NYU he has previously served as Executive Director of the Remarque Institute and as Co-Director of NYU Florence at Villa La Pietra. His newest book is The Shadow of the Empress: Fairy-Tale Opera and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy (2023). He is also the author of Woodrow Wilson and the Reimagining of Eastern Europe (2020) and Disunion within the Union: The Uniate Church and the Partitions of Poland (2019), The Singing Turk: Ottoman Power and Operatic Emotions on the European Stage from the Siege of Vienna to the Age of Napoleon (2016), Paolina’s Innocence: Child Abuse in Casanova’s Venice (2012), The Idea of Galicia: History and Fantasy in Habsburg Political Culture (2010), Venice and the Slavs: The Discovery of Dalmatia in the Age of Enlightenment (2001), Inventing Eastern Europe: The Map of Civilization on the Mind of the Enlightenment (1994), The Vatican and Poland in the Age of the Partitions (1988), and Postcards from the End of the World: Child Abuse in Freud’s Vienna (1988). He writes frequently about opera, publishing essays and reviews in the Times Literary Supplement, the New York Review of Books, the New York Times, the New Yorker, the Los Angeles Review of Books, and the Hudson Review. He has received Fulbright, American Council of Learned Societies, and Guggenheim fellowships, and he is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
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).

Special Contributors Reception with Oksana Lyniv
2024-03-14 18:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | NY
A private reception in honor of Maestra Oksana Lyniv.
Oksana Lyniv was the first woman to conduct at the Bayreuth Festival when she led Der fliegende Holländer in 2021, a work she will conduct again at this summer’s Festival. She was in New York to conduct Puccini’s Turandot at the Metropolitan Opera Feb. 28 – Apr. 19.
This invitation was exclusive to our Special Contributors as well as our valued board and committee members.

Atlanta Opera Walküre Events
2024-04-27 | NY
Members of the Wagner Society of New York have been invited to special events around the April 27, 2024 performance of Die Walküre at Atlanta Opera.
Events planning is still in the works, but the offerings are as follows:
1. 20% off tickets: Members, check your email for discount code
2. Pre-Performance Symposium on Saturday, 27 April from 11am – 4pm
Behind the Curtain at The Atlanta Opera
You are invited for an in-depth look at the making of The Atlanta Opera’s production of Die Walküre and the development of Atlanta’s first Ring Cycle. Meet the designers in a panel presentation, hear about the work from Jay Hunter Morris—one of the greatest artists of our time to perform the role of Siegfried, and hear from Jonathan Dean of the Seattle Opera—the most recent American opera company to present Wagner’s Ring Cycle.
Free; registration required here.
3. Group lunch on Sunday, April 28 – register here
4. Group hotel discount rate: Members, check your email for discount code
5. Pre-performance, intermission, and post-performance reception – registration required

Atlanta Die Walküre Hospitality
2024-04-27 16:45 - 18:30 (America/New_York) | Cobb Energy Performing Arts Center, 2800 Cobb Galleria Pkwy, Atlanta, GA, 30339, United States
WSNY Members may join board members and donors of The Atlanta Opera for pre-performance hors d’œuvres and tapas, then cocktails and desserts at intermission, and a post-performance champagne toast for the April 27 performance of Die Walküre. Space is limited and pre-registration of guests’ names is required for entry. RSVP by 12:00 noon ET on Friday, 12 April.
4:45pm Doors open/Cocktails on the Mezzanine
5:00pm Appetizers and Tapas selections
6:30pm Curtain
7:40pm Desserts on the Mezzanine
8:10pm Act 2 begins
11:05pm Champagne toast on the Mezzanine

Atlanta Walküre Post-Performance Brunch
2024-04-28 12:00 - 14:00 (America/New_York) | 9 Mile Station, 675 Ponce de Leon Ave. NE, Atlanta, GA, 30308, United States
Join WSNY Members and Guests for a post-performance brunch at 9 Mile Station, a rooftop restaurant at Ponce City Market in Atlanta’s Old Fourth Ward. The restaurant offers sandwiches, salads, brunch items, entrées, and a full bar – check out the menu here. Enjoy a casual meet-up to discuss Die Walküre and take in the sweeping views of the Atlanta Skyline. Ponce City Market, originally a Sears, Roebuck & Co. warehouse and showroom, has been converted to a multi-use dining, shopping, and entertainment space.
The $25 fee holds your seat and will be credited against your bill; it is forfeited in case of a no-show. Diners are responsible for their portion of the check and an automatic 20% gratuity; please bring cash. RSVP by Thu. 4/25 at noon.
Location:
Nine Mile Station is located on the rooftop of Ponce City Market in Atlanta’s historic Old Fourth Ward.
From the courtyard: Look for an orange kiosk with a lighted “The Roof” sign at the East end entrance to the Food Hall by Anthropologie and Posman Books.
From the BeltLine: Head through the corridor and down to the end of the wooden walkway. At the end, take the outdoor elevator or stairs down to the courtyard. From there, go left towards Anthropologie. Just outside Anthropologie look for the Kiosk with a lighted “The Roof” sign at the East end entrance to get to The Roof.
There you will find our helpful staff that can direct you to Nine Mile Station.
Parking: Ponce City Market offers both valet parking and self-parking. You will be able to pay for parking at one of the kiosks or on the ParkMobile app (zone 222). Please allow at least 30 minutes to park, check-in, and access The Roof.

Wagner From a Queer Perspective
2024-05-15 18:30 - 20:30 (America/New_York) | National Opera Center, 330 Seventh Avenue, 7th Floor, New York, NY, 10001, United States
In recent years, a number of works of interest to queer Wagnerians have been published, including Laurence Dreyfus’s Wagner and the Erotic Impulse and Alex Ross’s Wagnerism. This talk will explore these works as well as topics such as the homosexuality of key people in Wagner’s circle (such as King Ludwig II and Wagner’s son Siegfried), Wagner’s fetishes with respect to satin and perfume, the unorthodox sexual relationships and ethics in Wagner’s life and works, and LGBTQ+ devotees to Wagner’s operas from the 19th century to today.
The event will be followed by a social hour with refreshments, and 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.
About the speaker:
Dr. Patrick S. Cheng is the Visiting Professor of Anglican Studies at Union Theological Seminary in New York City. An Episcopal priest and a lover of Richard Wagner’s works, Dr. Cheng enjoyed attending Der Fliegende Holländer, Tannhäuser, Tristan und Isolde, and Parsifal at Bayreuth this past summer. Dr. Cheng has published three books on queer theology, including Radical Love: An Introduction to Queer Theology. He holds a B.A. from Yale College, a J.D. from Harvard Law School, and a Ph.D. from Union Theological Seminary.

Met Opera Backstage Tour
2024-05-26 10:15 - 12:30 (America/New_York) | The Metropolitan Opera, 30 Lincoln Center Plz., New York, NY, 10023, United States
Join other Wagner Society members for a private backstage tour of the Metropolitan Opera.
Sale ends one week before the tour: Sunday May 19 at noon.
All proceeds will be directed to the Society’s Singers Fund.
Venue: Meet at the main lobby of the Metropolitan Opera at 10:15 a.m.
Accessibility: The Backstage Tour includes considerable standing, walking, stairs, and elevators. We are able to accommodate individuals using wheelchairs or having other mobility challenges if a request is made at least 1 week before the tour date.

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.

Tristan und Isolde in HD: Bayreuth Premiere
2024-07-25 19:00 - 23:00 (America/New_York) | Alamo Drafthouse Lower Manhttan, 28 Liberty Street, Suite SC301, New York, NY, 10005, United States
A new production premiere, streamed for the first time in New York City: join us for the Bayreuth Festival’s opening night.
On Thursday, July 25 in Bayreuth, Germany, an eagerly-anticipated new Tristan und Isolde will premiere. Just nine hours later, we’ll re-stream the performance in High-Definition video in a luxurious, modern movie theatre in Lower Manhattan.
The event: Tristan und Isolde, new production premiere and the opening of the festival. Andreas Schager returns as Tristan, and Camilla Nylund sings Isolde for the first time at Bayreuth.
Runtime: approx. 4 hours including two 10-minute intermissions. The opera begins promptly at 7:00 p.m.
The venue: Alamo Drafthouse Lower Manhattan, 28 Liberty Street, Suite SC301, New York NY
Seating in luxury recliners with built-in tables and cupholders, the in-house restaurant offers a full food and drink menu (burgers, salads, pizza, ﬁnger foods, beer, cocktails, coffee, and soft drinks) with seasonal specials, where orders are stealthily delivered to one’s seat mid-performance.
The experience: A live-in-HD premiere like no other; a modern, stylish, and intimate theatre with superior visuals and immersive sound; a unique chance to view a new production of Richard Wagner’s opus metaphysicum; be at one of the opera world’s most anticipated events – no black tie required. And unlike events in the Festspielhaus, there will be English subtitles, air conditioning, cold beer, and dinner available during the performance.
Pricing: $40 for WSNY members, $60 for non-members. Guests are responsible for their own food & drink orders (including a 20% auto-gratuity).
Update: due to popular demand, we’ve added a second auditorium and will present two simultaneous streams!
Alamo Drafthouse Reclining Seats
Intermissions: 10 minutes each, at approximately 8:26 p.m. and 9:55 p.m. Program ends approx. 11:20 p.m.
Cast & Production:
Conductor: Semyon Bychkov
Director: Thorleifur Örn Arnarsson
Tristan: Andreas Schager
Marke: Günther Groissböck
Isolde: Camilla Nylund
Kurwenal: Olafur Sigurdarson
Melot: Birger Radde
Brangäne: Christa Mayer
Ein Hirt: Daniel Jenz
Ein Steuermann: Lawson Anderson
Junger Seemann: Matthew Newlin
Stage design: Vytautas Narbutas
Costumes: Sibylle Wallum
Dramaturgy: Andri Hardmeier
Lighting: Sascha Zauner
Ensembles: Bayreuth Festival Chorus, Bayreuth Festival Orchestra

Venue Directions:

Alamo Drafthouse Lower Manhattan, 28 Liberty Street, Suite SC301, New York NY 10005, located in Sub-Basement 2 and Sub-Basement 3 of the 28 Liberty Building in the Financial District. From the entrance to the 28 Liberty Building located on Liberty St., enter through the revolving glass doors and walk straight ahead to the escalators. Take the escalator down twice to Sub-Basement 2 to access our concierge desk and the Press Room bar. Alternatively, you can take the elevators from the 28 Liberty Building lobby directly to Sub-Basement 2. Alamo Drafthouse Cinema Lower Manhattan is easily accessible by the NYC Subway system, closest to the 2, 3, 4, 5, J, Z. It is also very close to the Fulton St Transit Hub and the World Trade Center Transit Hub.
