Bayreuth

NEW YORK — The saxophonist on the subway platform is wailing out — could it be? Yes, it actually is — the music from Wagner's "Siegfried. " Four giant Wagner-themed banners hang from the balcony of the Metropolitan Opera House. Wagnerians visiting from Europe can be heard in heated debate at restaurants all the way down in Greenwich Village. There is no mistaking it: The "Ring" cycle has returned to New York City. The Met has been rolling out new productions of the four "Ring" operas individually over the last two seasons, but only in recent weeks has the "Ring," as...

NEW YORK — The saxophonist on the subway platform is wailing out — could it be? Yes, it actually is — the music from Wagner's "Siegfried. " Four giant Wagner-themed banners hang from the balcony of the Metropolitan Opera House. Wagnerians visiting from Europe can be heard in heated debate at restaurants all the way down in Greenwich Village. There is no mistaking it: The "Ring" cycle has returned to New York City. The Met has been rolling out new productions of the four "Ring" operas individually over the last two seasons, but only in recent weeks has the "Ring," as...

MUNICH — Wolfgang Wagner, grandson of composer Richard Wagner and leader of the Bayreuth opera festival for more than half a century, died Sunday, the festival said in a brief statement on its website. He was 90. “Wolfgang Wagner dedicated his whole life to the legacy of his grandfather,’’ the festival said, adding that his long service as the event’s leader means that he “goes into history as the longest-serving director in the world.’’ Mr. Wagner stepped down after the 2008 festival, following a lengthy power struggle in which the patriarch...

BERLIN — German tenor Peter Hofmann, who became famous for his performances in Richard Wagner operas, died yesterday. He was 66. The mass-circulation newspaper Bild reported Mr. Hofmann’s death after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. Mr. Hofmann made his name performing at the annual Bayreuth festival celebrating the music of Richard Wagner. He sang on stages across the world, including the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and performed as the main character of “The Phantom of the Opera’’ musical in Hamburg.

BERLIN — German tenor Peter Hofmann, who became famous for his performances in Richard Wagner operas, died yesterday. He was 66. The mass-circulation newspaper Bild reported Mr. Hofmann’s death after a long battle with Parkinson’s disease. Mr. Hofmann made his name performing at the annual Bayreuth festival celebrating the music of Richard Wagner. He sang on stages across the world, including the Metropolitan Opera in New York, and performed as the main character of “The Phantom of the Opera’’ musical in Hamburg.

JERUSALEM — An Israeli orchestra will perform works by Adolf Hitler’s favorite composer, Richard Wagner, in a taboo-breaking concert in Germany next year, a spokeswoman said yesterday. The Israel Chamber Orchestra will play works by Wagner at the Bayreuth festival in July, spokeswoman Meirav Magen Lelie said. It will be the first time an Israeli orchestra has played Wagner in Germany. Since its founding in 1948, Israel has observed an informal ban on Wagner’s music because of its use in Nazi propaganda before and during World War II. Some 6 million Jews...

Most of the time, a concert devoted entirely to one composer is a feast; with Richard Wagner, it’s merely a sampler. Nevertheless, the Boston Philharmonic’s all-Wagner concert last weekend still provided ample sustenance -and, at its heights, some of the Philharmonic’s finest music-making. The opening, the overture to “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg,’’ was an enjoyably brash, in-your-face assortment of exclamation points, conductor Benjamin Zander snapping the end of the baton through the air, flicking on each beat like a light switch.

COPENHAGEN - Inga Nielsen, the Danish soprano who performed in some of the world's leading opera houses, died at a hospital in Copenhagen Feb. 10, Royal Opera music director Michael Schoenwandt said. She was 61 and had suffered from cancer in recent years. One of Denmark's best known sopranos, Ms. Nielsen performed on stages such as La Scala in Milan, the Vienna State Opera, and London's Covent Garden. "She was unique," Schoenwandt said. "She was born with a great voice and at the same time, she had a great feeling for musicality.

BERLIN - Gudrun Wagner, wife of the Bayreuth Opera Festival's director and a key figure in the family battle over control of the arts institution that was founded by composer Richard Wagner, died yesterday at a Bayreuth hospital. She was 63. No cause of death was given. Her death comes amid a feud over who will succeed Wolfgang Wagner, her husband and a grandson of the composer, as festival director. Wagner, 88, had long insisted that his second wife and partner in directing and staging the annual festival was the only person capable of taking over.

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- Thomas Stewart, the American bass-baritone praised for his portrayals of the god Wotan and other Wagnerian roles at the Metropolitan Opera and the Bayreuth Festival, has died. He was 78. Mr. Stewart died Sept. 24 after collapsing while playing golf near his home in Rockville. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead from a heart attack. Mr. Stewart was known as a commanding singer who took an imaginative approach to his diverse roles, which included Aeneas in Purcell's "Dido and Aeneas," Jochanan in Richard Strauss'...

JERUSALEM — An Israeli orchestra will perform works by Adolf Hitler’s favorite composer, Richard Wagner, in a taboo-breaking concert in Germany next year, a spokeswoman said yesterday. The Israel Chamber Orchestra will play works by Wagner at the Bayreuth festival in July, spokeswoman Meirav Magen Lelie said. It will be the first time an Israeli orchestra has played Wagner in Germany. Since its founding in 1948, Israel has observed an informal ban on Wagner’s music because of its use in Nazi propaganda before and during World War II. Some 6 million Jews were systematically...

MUNICH — Wolfgang Wagner, grandson of composer Richard Wagner and leader of the Bayreuth opera festival for more than half a century, died Sunday, the festival said in a brief statement on its website. He was 90. “Wolfgang Wagner dedicated his whole life to the legacy of his grandfather,’’ the festival said, adding that his long service as the event’s leader means that he “goes into history as the longest-serving director in the world.’’ Mr. Wagner stepped down after the 2008 festival, following a lengthy power struggle in which...

Most of the time, a concert devoted entirely to one composer is a feast; with Richard Wagner, it’s merely a sampler. Nevertheless, the Boston Philharmonic’s all-Wagner concert last weekend still provided ample sustenance -and, at its heights, some of the Philharmonic’s finest music-making. The opening, the overture to “Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg,’’ was an enjoyably brash, in-your-face assortment of exclamation points, conductor Benjamin Zander snapping the end of the baton through the air, flicking on each beat like a light switch.

COPENHAGEN - Inga Nielsen, the Danish soprano who performed in some of the world's leading opera houses, died at a hospital in Copenhagen Feb. 10, Royal Opera music director Michael Schoenwandt said. She was 61 and had suffered from cancer in recent years. One of Denmark's best known sopranos, Ms. Nielsen performed on stages such as La Scala in Milan, the Vienna State Opera, and London's Covent Garden. "She was unique," Schoenwandt said. "She was born with a great voice and at the same time, she had a great feeling for musicality.

BERLIN - Gudrun Wagner, wife of the Bayreuth Opera Festival's director and a key figure in the family battle over control of the arts institution that was founded by composer Richard Wagner, died yesterday at a Bayreuth hospital. She was 63. No cause of death was given. Her death comes amid a feud over who will succeed Wolfgang Wagner, her husband and a grandson of the composer, as festival director. Wagner, 88, had long insisted that his second wife and partner in directing and staging the annual festival was the only person capable of taking over.

ROCKVILLE, Md. -- Thomas Stewart, the American bass-baritone praised for his portrayals of the god Wotan and other Wagnerian roles at the Metropolitan Opera and the Bayreuth Festival, has died. He was 78. Mr. Stewart died Sept. 24 after collapsing while playing golf near his home in Rockville. He was taken to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead from a heart attack. Mr. Stewart was known as a commanding singer who took an imaginative approach to his diverse roles, which included Aeneas in Purcell's "Dido and Aeneas," Jochanan in Richard Strauss'...

Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau, the renowned German baritone who performed for more than five decades on stages in Berlin, Vienna, London and New York, died Friday. He was 86. The art songs and opera singer died at his home in the southern German city of Starnberg, Berlin's Deutsche Oper said. "He has deeply moved countless people around world for more than half a century through hundreds of concerts and recordings," German Culture Minister Bernd Neumann said. Neumann said Fischer-Dieskau's recordings of works by composers such as Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Franz Schubert and...

NEW YORK - At this rate, the surgeon general could issue a warning that singing at the Metropolitan Opera can be hazardous to one's health. Illnesses have knocked out stars at dizzying speed, with six singers making unscheduled debuts in leading roles over 13 days. Three tenors appeared as Tristan, one of whom stopped the show when a set malfunction sent him tumbling into the prompter's box. A soprano took over Isolde in mid-performance, and two other sopranos were thrust into Verdi operas on short notice.