Elina Garanča to Make Bayreuth Festival Debut as Kundri in Wagner’s Parsifal

This news was shared at the end of last week and became a pleasant surprise for both Wagnerists and fans of Elina Garanča. Originally, mezzo-soprano Ekaterina Semenchuk was supposed to make her Bayreuth debut as Kundri, but she has canceled her participation in the show due to personal reasons. Parsifal in the cycle in Bayreuth, not only Elina Garanca will be heard in this role, but also Ekaterina Gubanova (August 15, 19, 23 and 27). Tenor Joseph Kaleja will make his debut in the title role.

The new production of Wagner’s last opera will be created by the conductor Pablo Eras-Casado and the director Jay Scheib – they will work in Bayreuth for the first time. Parsifal promises to be full of new technology: Jay Scheib with his New York ensemble Jay Scheib & Co. has developed a special approach to contemporary performing arts that combines improvisation, physical theatre, cinema and the use of technology. The director works in both drama and music theater.

Elina Garanča’s participation in the Bayreuth festival will be notable for the fact that it is there, in the theater designed by Wagner himself, that she will play Kundri for the first time in front of an audience. As is known, the Latvian prima sang Kundri for the first and so far the only time in the premiere staged by conductor Filipa Jordāns and director Kirill Serebrennikov at the Vienna State Opera during the pandemic in April 2021 – Parsifal was filmed in an empty hall and later shown on the Internet and on television. Elina Garanca will return to this show in Vienna on March 28, April 1 and 3, 2024.

Elīna Garanča will become the second Latvian singer in the history of Bayreuth Festival: the first is bass-baritone Egils Siliņš, who sang the King’s Herald in 2018 and 2019 in Lohengrinin 2022 – Votan Rhine gold. Even earlier, in 2010, conductor Andris Nelsons made his debut in Bayreuth, under whose leadership he has performed here Lohengrin (2010–2014) and Wagner opera concerts (2021, 2022).

In this year’s program alongside Parsifal the new production will have Ring of the Nibelung, Tanheizers, The Wandering Dutchman and Tristan an Isolde. The festival will continue until August 28.

Elina Garanca is currently playing Amneris by Giuseppe Verdi In Aida at London’s Royal Opera House (conductor Mark Elder, director Robert Carsen; Elina Garanc will be heard until May 23). On June 1, 2 and 3, she will sing Wagner at the Berlin Philharmonic Vezendonk songs, maestro Daniels Barenboim will stand at the conductor’s desk of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. On July 10, Elina Garanča and conductor Karel Mark Šišon will perform in Dzintari concert hall.

Information: bayreuther-festspiele.de