Max Emanuel Cencic, Eva Zalenga, Christophe Dumaux, Julia Lezhneva, Petr Nekoranec Among Headlines of Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival 2026

(Photo Credit: © Lukasz Rajchert) The Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival has announced its seventh edition, running Sept. 4–13, 2026. Händel’s “Floridante” receives six performances as a co-production with the Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe and the International Handel Festival Karlsruhe. Artistic Director Max Emanuel Cencic stages and sings the title role with Eva Zalenga, Sonja Runje, Bruno de Sá, Pavel Kudinov, and {…}

Oct 9, 2025

Bayreuth Baroque Festival 2025 Review: Terra Mater

(Photo: Clemens Manser) One of the highlights of this year’s Bayreuth Baroque Festival was a concert entitled “Terra Mater,” directed and designed by Christina Pluhar, featuring the L’Arpeggiata ensemble and mezzo-soprano Malena Ernman. The concert was an exploration of 17th and 18th century musical representations of nature in its many forms, interpreted from a 21st century perspective by the performers. {…}

Sep 29, 2025

Bayreuth Baroque Festival 2025 Review: Pompeo Magno

(Photo: Clemens Manser) In 1637, the San Cassiano theatre opened its doors for the first time with a performance of Francesco Minelli’s “L’Andromeda,” an event that took opera out of the palazzi and drawing rooms of the aristocracy and into the public arena. Within a matter of only a few years, the city was awash with opera houses. Composers and {…}

Sep 29, 2025

Q & A: Soprano Sophie Junker On Playing Giulia In Cavalli’s ‘Pompeo Magno’ & Her Forthcoming Debut At The Wexford Festival Opera.

(Photo: Alan Neilson) The main presentation at this year’s Bayreuth Baroque Festival was a lavish, fully staged production of Francesco Cavalli’s 1666 opera, “Pompeo Magno,” boasting a large cast of high-quality singers and actors. Playing the role of Giulia was the Belgian soprano Sophie Junker, who, since winning both the London Händel Competition in 2010 and Innsbruck’s Cesti Competition in {…}

Oct 2, 2024

Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival 2024: Ifigenia in Aulide

(Photo credit: Photos: Clemens Manser/Falk von Traubenber) As an opera composer Nicola Antonio Porpora gained advantage over his rivals by tailoring his works to the singers’ voices, and he gained popularity among singers because he was a well-known voice teacher. Even today, when experiencing Porpora’s opera “Ifigenia in Aulide” at Bayreuth’s Baroque Opera Festival, one cannot ignore the skill with {…}

Sep 11, 2024

Q & A: Christophe Rousset on Porpora’s ‘Ifigenia in Aulide’ & Les Talens Lyriques Orchestra at Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival 2024

(Photo credit: Ignacio Barrios) Bayreuth Baroque Festival has been awarded “The Best Festival of 2024” by Germany’s Oper! Awards. The first season began in 2020 with a staged production of Nicola Antonio Porpora’s “Carlo il Calvo”, and an opera in concert version of “Gismondo, Re di Polonia” by Leonardo Vinci and libretto by Francesco Briani’s Il Vincitor Generoso. The orchestras {…}

Dec 11, 2023

Jakub Josef Orlinski, Anna Prohaska, Sandrine Piau Headline Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival 2024

Bayreuth Baroque Opera Festival has announced its 2024 slate. First up is Porpora’s “Ifigenia in Aulide.” The new production by Max Emanuel Cencic will be conducted by Christophe Rousset and stars Jasmin Delfs, Lena Belkina, Max Emanuel Cencic, Dennis Orellana, Vince Yi, and Daniel Giuliani. Performance Dates: Sept. 5 – 15, 2024 Jakub Jósef Orlinski appears in performance with Il Pomo {…}

Sep 18, 2023

Bayreuth Baroque Festival 2023 Review: Flavio, Re De’ Longobardi

(Photo: Falk von Traubenburg) Max Cenčić has a long-established reputation as a sensitive and technically brilliant virtuoso countertenor. However, over the past six or seven years, he has also become increasingly known for his skills as a stage director owing to a string of stunning productions, such as Hasse’s “Siroe,” which he toured in 2017. In 2020, he was appointed {…}

Sep 28, 2021

Bayreuth Baroque Festival 2021 Review: Carlo il Calvo

(Photo: Falk von Traubenberg) Very occasionally we are fortunate enough to experience an opera production that leaves an indelible imprint on our memories; a never-forgotten experience in which adjectives such as ‘brilliant,’ ‘breath-taking’ or ‘stunning’ come to mind and can be used without any sense of exaggeration. Such was the case with Bayreuth Baroque Festival’s performance of Nicolà Porpora’s opera {…}

Sep 24, 2021

Bayreuth Baroque Festival 2021 Review: Judas Maccabaeus

(Photo: Ralf Münch) The recently restored Stadtkirche was chosen as the venue for the festival’s performance of Handel’s 1647 oratorio “Judas Maccabaeus.” Situated in the historical center, it is the city’s largest church, built in the late gothic style between 1611 and 1614. It is dominated by its two imposing domed towers which are connected by a bridge. It is {…}