A new production of “Die Walküre” directed by Katharina Wagner will receive its world premiere in China next month, marking the second installment of the “Bayreuth in Shanghai” three-year opera project.

The production will be presented at the Shanghai Grand Theatre on April 24 and 26, 2026 as part of the 41st Shanghai Spring International Music Festival. It follows last year’s opening chapter with “Tristan und Isolde,” continuing an initiative that connects Shanghai more closely with the artistic traditions of the Bayreuth Festival.

Conducted by Xu Zhong, the production brings together the Suzhou Symphony Orchestra and guest musicians from the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra. It is co-presented by the Shanghai Grand Theatre and the Shanghai Opera House.

The staging marks Katharina Wagner’s first time directing “Die Walküre.” Known for psychologically driven interpretations and bold visual language, she frames this new production around the idea of “game” as a recurring dramatic thread.

A highlight of the cast is bass-baritone Shen Yang, who will make his role debut as Wotan. He joins an international line-up of Wagner specialists including Catherine Foster as Brünnhilde, Vincent Wolfsteiner as Siegmund, Wilhelm Schwinghammer as Hunding, Manuela Uhl as Sieglinde and Anna Maria Chiuri as Fricka.

Composed by Richard Wagner, Die Walküre is the second installment of the four-opera cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen. Drawing on Norse mythology, the opera tells of the fateful love between the twins Siegmund and Sieglinde and the moral conflict of the Valkyrie Brünnhilde, who defies her father Wotan in an act of compassion. The drama, often read as a reflection on power, law and individual conscience, forms a crucial turning point in the larger Ring narrative.

The Shanghai premiere comes in a year of anniversaries, marking the 150th anniversary of the Bayreuth Festival and the first complete Ring cycle, as well as 170 years since the completion of Die Walküre. Organisers say the new staging aims to pay tribute to the spirit of Wagner’s work while offering a fresh theatrical perspective.

The “Bayreuth in Shanghai” project will continue through 2027. The city is building on its growing reputation as Asia’s opera capital with the grand opening of the Grand Opera Shanghai (GOSH) scheduled in November.