Salzburg Easter Festival 2027: 60th Anniversary and Continuation of Der Ring des Nibelungen with the Berliner Philharmoniker and Kirill Petrenko
The Salzburg Easter Festival will celebrate its 60th anniversary in 2027 and, in collaboration with the Berliner Philharmoniker and its Chief Conductor Kirill Petrenko, will continue its new production of Richard Wagner’s tetralogy Der Ring des Nibelungen. In Die Walküre, directed by Kirill Serebrennikov, Lise Davidsen makes her international role debut as Brünnhilde, whilst Christopher Maltman sings the part of Wotan. Kirill Petrenko will also conduct Ludwig van Beethoven’s Missa solemnis, with Martha Argerich, Emmanuelle Haïm and Lahav Shani among the guest artists in the other concerts. For more information click here.
The Ring is a music drama based on Germanic and Old Norse epics and demands what in its own day was an unprecedentedly large orchestra as well as voices unlike anything known at the time of its composition. But behind the mythic action, behind the instrumental splendour and behind a type of voice that is now described as ‘Wagnerian’ lies a keen-eyed analysis of the world’s goings-on, says Artistic Director Nikolaus Bachler: ‘The Easter Festival’s new production can offer all of this and more. The cast is a blend of experienced Wagner singers and a number of promising debutants; and the orchestra is the best in the world. It will be conducted by the brilliant Kirill Petrenko. And finally, the production examines the threats to our earth’s natural beauty.’
RICHARD WAGNER: DER RING DES NIBELUNGEN – DIE WALKÜRE
Musical Direction: Kirill Petrenko / Production: Kirill Serebrennikov
In the founding year of the Easter Festival in 1967, Herbert von Karajan selected Richard Wagner’s Die Walküre as the centrepiece. In 2027, 60 years later, the first day of the stage festival play Der Ring des Nibelungen returns to the programme.
Kirill Petrenko, who has already conducted Wagner’s tetralogy at the Theater Meiningen, the Bayreuth Festival and the Bavarian State Opera, will lead Die Walküre in Kirill Serebrennikov’s staging during the anniversary year, following his direction of Das Rheingold in 2026. This new Ring production marks the third in the history of the Easter Festival, after stagings by Herbert von Karajan (from 1967) and Stéphane Braunschweig (from 2007). For the 50th anniversary in 2017, Die Walküre was also featured, directed by Vera Nemirova in a reconstructed set design by Günther Schneider-Siemssen.
In his staging, director Kirill Serebrennikov, described by Nikolaus Bachler as ‘perhaps the most musical and simultaneously one of the most imaginative, original, and uncompromising interpreters of opera today’, expands the perspective of Wagner’s narrative beyond the European continent: while Das Rheingold is set in desolate, ice-covered landscapes of Africa, Die Walküre moves to America, incorporating the Mexican tradition of Día de los Muertos, the Day of the Dead, into the interpretation. Serebrennikov finds new imagery for nature, which in the Ring is symbolised by the World Ash Tree and the gold in the Rhine.
Christopher Maltman takes on the role of Wotan – the British baritone most recently sang this part at the Royal Opera, Covent Garden. The Norwegian Lise Davidsen makes her international role debut as Brünnhilde, having delighted audiences at the 2024 Easter Festival with an aria recital and recently earning acclaim in the title role of Tristan und Isolde at New York’s Metropolitan Opera. True to Kirill Serebrennikov’s core concept of a world theatre, the cast comprises singers from around the globe, representing a young generation of Wagner voices such as Jamez McCorkle as Siegmund, Christina Nilsson as Sieglinde, and Catriona Morison as Fricka.
CHORAL CONCERT I: HANDEL
Conductor: Emmanuelle Haïm
Soprano: Sabine Devieilhe, Countertenor: Carlo Vistoli, Tenor: Eric Ferring, Bass: William Thomas
Choeur du Concert d’Astrée / Berliner Philharmoniker
For the first time at the Easter Festival, George Frideric Handel’s oratorio Messiah will be performed. Conductor Emmanuelle Haïm, who has delivered captivating interpretations of Baroque music with the Berliner Philharmoniker for 15 years, returns to Salzburg following her Easter Festival debut in 2009, bringing her own choir ensemble, Concert d’Astrée. Unusually small with only 26 singers, the choir promises a distinctive chamber music experience.
CHORAL CONCERT II: BEETHOVEN
Conductor: Kirill Petrenko
Soprano: Golda Schultz, Mezzo-soprano: Wiebke Lehmkuhl, Tenor: Sebastian Kohlhepp, Bass: David Steffens
Rundfunkchor Berlin
Berliner Philharmoniker
Ludwig van Beethoven’s Missa solemnis was already on the music stands of the Berliner Philharmoniker and Herbert von Karajan in the founding year of the Salzburg Easter Festival in 1967. The work ranks among Beethoven’s most personal – it is a passionate testament to faith and simultaneously to humanity. On the 200th anniversary of the composer’s death, Kirill Petrenko and the Berliner Philharmoniker interpret the solemn mass together with the Rundfunkchor Berlin.
ORCHESTERAL CONCERT: DEBUSSY / PROKOFIEV / MUSSORGSKY
Conductor: Lahav Shani
Piano: Martha Argerich
Berliner Philharmoniker
Martha Argerich presents the high-energy Third Piano Concerto by Sergei Prokofiev with the Berliner Philharmoniker. To open the programme, Claude Debussy’s Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune transports the audience into a dream world, before Modest Mussorgsky’s cycle Pictures at an Exhibition is performed in Maurice Ravel’s orchestration. Conducting is the young Israeli maestro Lahav Shani, who has appeared with the Berliner Philharmoniker several times since his debut with the orchestra six years ago.
CHAMBER CONCERT / LATE NIGHT CONCERTS
In 2027, a series of Chamber and Late Night Concerts featuring musicians from the Berliner Philharmoniker wil; also be part of the Salzburg Easter Festival programme. Details will be announced at a later date.
ALAN LUCIEN ØYEN: ANTIGONE
Antigone is a radical reinterpretation of Sophocles’s timeless tragedy, blending the physical poetry of dance theatre with spoken word and the original text. This production seeks to rediscover the ideas within the play – not just the words – through a deeply human, visceral performance that highlights the unresolved dilemmas of duty, morality, and power, which remain relevant today. Young Norwegian choreographer Alan Lucien Øyen develops this piece with his ensemble, winter guests, along with former and current members of the Tanztheater Wuppertal Pina Bausch.
Electro – In 2027, the Salzburg Easter Festival will also invite internationally renowned artists from the field of electronic music to engage with our programme. Details will be announced at a later date.