Bavarian State Opera Unveils 2026/27 Season: A Focus on Human Responsibility and Crisis
Munich, Bavaria – On a Sunday morning at the Nationaltheater, General Director Serge Dorny, General Music Director Vladimir Jurowski, and Ballet Director Laurent Hilaire presented the highly anticipated highlights of the Bavarian State Opera’s 2026/27 season. The upcoming program is densely packed with seven opera premieres, two ballet premieres, bel canto artistry, world premieres, exciting debuts, and major stars. The season will also feature the Munich Opera Festival, the Ja Mai Festival, and the beloved “Opera for All” events.
The season’s overarching theme draws inspiration from Brünnhilde’s words in the final scene of “Götterdämmerung”: in a time when familiar certainties are dissolving and seemingly reliable political and social structures are losing their validity, reorientation and personal responsibility are paramount. The premiere productions of 2026/27 are deeply rooted in these crisis-ridden moments of transition.
A “Human” Ring Cycle
Foremost among the productions is Richard Wagner’s “Ring” tetralogy. Following the original “Rheingold” in autumn 2024, director Tobias Kratzer will continue his Munich cycle in the current season with “Walküre,” concluding the “Ring” in 2026/27 with “Siegfried” and “Götterdämmerung.” General Music Director Vladimir Jurowski will once again be on the podium, expressing his excitement for the “Nibelungen workshop” and promising that it will remain “as exciting as it was in ‘Rheingold’ and very human.” With the season set to conclude in July with two complete cycles, following the Bayreuth model, Jurowski will focus entirely on the Nibelungen saga this season. This work will be a musical journey of discovery for him, thanks to the orchestra’s “excellent knowledge of Wagner.” Given that five of Wagner’s operas premiered in Munich, the “Bayreuth Master,” alongside Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Richard Strauss, is not just revered as one of the house gods but is practically part of the State Orchestra’s DNA.
Royal Rivals
A deadly struggle for power, legitimacy, and religion defines the relationship between the royal cousins Mary Stuart and Elizabeth I – a thematic complex that spans the Bavarian State Opera’s season. This season opens with the world premiere of Brett Dean’s “Of one blood” at the Nationaltheater and Francesco Micheli’s “Techno Queen” at creative partner Brainlab, initiating the Tudor theme. November 2026 will see Lulu Obermayer’s performance “KÖNIGIN(NEN)” (QUEEN(S)), culminating in December with Gaetano Donizetti’s bel canto version of “Maria Stuarda.” Nadine Sierra, the Metropolitan Opera’s reigning coloratura queen, will star as the protagonist. Director Francesco Micheli is also a highly qualified specialist, having led the Donizetti Festival in his hometown of Bergamo for ten years. Munich audiences know him from his debut production, in which he staged the famous double feature “Cavalleria rusticana/Pagliacci” as a continuous guest worker drama between Munich and Palermo.
John Adams’ Debut
It is high time that one of the most significant contemporary American composers is heard at the Nationaltheater. Post-minimalist John Adams often engages with key political moments in 20th-century history, as seen in “Nixon in China” (about Richard Nixon’s 1972 visit to China) or “The Death of Klinghoffer” (about the hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Lauro by Palestinian terrorists). In his opera “Dr. Atomic,” which premiered in San Francisco in 2005, he depicts the final hours before the test of the first atomic bomb in July 1945 at the top-secret Los Alamos Laboratory in the New Mexico desert. Physicist Robert Oppenheimer, a leading figure in the “Manhattan Project,” is torn between national war interests, moral responsibility, and scientific ambition. For Serge Dorny, Oppenheimer is a “modern Prometheus figure,” as the atomic bomb granted humanity a (dubious) ability previously reserved only for gods: the destruction of the world. Director Claus Guth will tackle this tragically topical theme.
Tchaikovsky, Massenet, and Britten
Piotr Tchaikovsky’s “Mazeppa” is the least known of his three great Pushkin operas, telling the story of the controversial Cossack hetman, revered as a national hero in modern-day Ukraine. Love clashes with power politics and ends tragically – Dmitri Tcherniakov will direct this epic. Jules Massenet’s “Werther,” based on Goethe’s famous epistolary novel, will be directed by French opera and film director Marie-Ève Signeyrole, focusing on internal conflicts rather than military confrontations. Jonathan Tetelman, who recently thrilled audiences as Faust, sings the world-weary title role. The final premiere will take place during the Opera Festival at the Prinzregententheater: Benjamin Britten’s last opera, “Death in Venice,” based on Thomas Mann’s novella. Vasily Barkhatov will stage this as a Venetian journey of self-discovery, showing how the Munich writer Gustav von Aschenbach despairs at his well-ordered artistic and life principles upon seeing the beautiful boy Tadzio.
Ballet, Concerts, and “Opera for All”
The Bavarian State Ballet presents two premieres: Edward Clug’s world premiere “Carpathia” explores the Transylvanian Dracula myth, while the ballet opera “Orpheus and Eurydice” is a classic by dance theater legend Pina Bausch. The Bavarian State Orchestra’s academy concerts will feature exciting debuts, including those of conductor Robin Ticciati and pianist Mitsuko Uchida. The chamber concerts are dedicated to Ludwig van Beethoven, whose 200th death anniversary will be observed in 2027. Also noteworthy is the biennial “Ja Mai Festival” for early and contemporary theater, which will focus on the theme of “Resistance” and feature “Liberty,” a world premiere by young Mexican composer Dyana Syrse. And last but not least: Global Partner BMW will once again enable two “Opera for All” events in the coming season: a concert with Diana Damrau and Benjamin Bernheim at BMW Park and a live broadcast of “Rheingold” on Max-Josephs-Platz will celebrate the 30th anniversary of this popular free format.
The comprehensive season brochure, detailing all these dates, as well as revivals, children’s concerts, family performances, and workshops at various venues, is presented in an unusual cover this time. Serge Dorny demonstrated its purpose: unfolded, it becomes a poster with premiere titles and dates. “For your kitchen,” the General Director explained to the numerous attendees, so that “you always think of your second home.” While such original reminders are seemingly unnecessary, given the house’s current occupancy rate of 100 percent for opera and 99 percent for ballet, it is nonetheless a charming idea. Photos of home refrigerators with opera posters can be sent to the State Opera’s Instagram account. Perhaps they should also be forwarded to actor Timothée Chalamet, who recently declared that no one cares about opera and ballet anymore. On this Sunday morning, probably no one would agree.
Source: BR-KLASSIK
