Wagner: Götterdämmerung / Kent Nagano

»Götterdämmerung« (Twilight of the Gods) not only marks the spectacular finale of Richard Wagner’s »Ring« tetralogy. In the opera – in which Valhalla goes up in flames, the hero Siegfried and the Valkyrie Brünnhilde meet their fates and the legendary ring is returned to the Rhine daughters – a very special project also reaches its climax: the »Ring des Nibelungen« in historically informed performance practice.



Under the title »The Wagner Cycles«, former Hamburg General Music Director Kent Nagano and the Dresdner Musikfestspiele under Artistic Director Jan Vogler have been reworking the entire »Ring« since 2023 in the context of the period in which it was written, enveloping it in an authentic soundscape. In addition to reconstructing the historical instruments and their playing techniques, the focus is also on rediscovering the singing and speaking styles of Wagner’s time.

First glimpses of this elaborate undertaking could already be experienced at the Elbphilharmonie with the triumphant performance of »Die Walküre« during the 2024 Hamburg International Music Festival. Now, exactly 150 years after the »Ring« premiered in Bayreuth – and in perfect alignment with this year’s festival theme »End« – the grand finale arrives with »Götterdämmerung«, as Kent Nagano returns to his former musical home in Hamburg.

PERFORMERS

Dresdner Festspielorchester orchestra

Concerto Köln ensemble

Festspielchor der Richard-Wagner-Akademie choir

Young Woo Kim tenor

Johannes Kammler baritone

Daniel Schmutzhard baritone

Patrick Zielke bass

Asa Jäger soprano

Sophia Brommer soprano

Olivia Vermeulen alto

Jasmin Etminan alto

Marie-Luise Dreßen mezzo-soprano

Valentina Farcas soprano

Ania Vegry soprano

Ida Aldrian mezzo-soprano

Eva Vogel alto

Kent Nagano conductor

PROGRAM

Richard Wagner
Götterdämmerung

Concert performance in German with German surtitles

The concert takes place with two intervals.