Between 25^th July - 3^rd August, Radio Romania Music broadcasts live seven performances within the "Richard Wagner" Festival in Bayreuth, one of the most important opera festivals worldwide and a reference point for all lovers of Wagner's music. The live broadcasts will be transmitted on Radio Romania Culture, as well.

The series of live shows debuts on 25^th July with the performance of The Mastersingers of Nuremberg, conducted by the Swiss director Philippe Jordan, who returns to Bayreuth with this production after the Parsifal he directed in 2012. The role of Hans Sachs will be interpreted by the bass-baritone Michael Volle, a singer who has achieved important successes in Wagner's roles he performed in the most important opera theatres in the world.

On 26^th July, you can listen to Tristan and Isolde, with three famous singers starring: Stephen Gould, Petra Lang and René Pape. The conductor will be the reputed Christian Thielemann, the same as the previous edition. The next performance will be Parsifal, the last musical drama composed by Richard Wagner, on 27^th July, with tenor Andreas Schager in the title role, a singer who began his singing career in operettas, but who has evolved to the status he has today when he is considered an extraordinary Wagnerian tenor.

Between 29^th July and 3^rd August, you will be able to listen to the tetralogy The Ring of the Nibelung, the landmark of Wagner's creation, an epic that inspired many other literary and dramatic works, with reverberations to the present, if we come to think of, for example, the cinematographic series entitled The Lord of the Rings. Important opera singers will perform under the baton of Marek Janowski who also conducted the same tetralogy at the "George Enescu" International Festival in Bucharest in 2013.

The Bayreuth Festival was set up in 1876 by Richard Wagner and is being staged at the "Festspielhaus", a building designed by the composer himself to accommodate the staging of his musical dramas. After Wagner's death, the festival has been organized by Richard Wagner's direct descendants and is one of the most important events in the German and international music life. Currently, the manager of the festival is Katharina Wagner (39 years old), Richard Wagner's great-granddaughter; she is also the director of the performance Tristan and Isolde staged at Bayreuth in 2017.

The performances that will be broadcast live between 25^th July and 3^rd August, due to our collaboration with the European Broadcasting Union (the EBU), are as follows:

25^th July, 16:50-24:00. Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg/The Mastersingers of Nuremberg with: Michael Volle, Günther Groissböck, Tansel Akzeybek, Johannes Martin Kränzle, Daniel Schmutzhard, Paul Kaufmann, Christopher Kaplan, Stefan Heibach, Raimund Nolte, Andreas Hörl, Timo Riihonen, Klaus Florian Vogt, Daniel Behle, Anne Schwanewilms, Wiebke Lehmkuhl, Karl-Heinz Lehner, the Bayreuth Festival Chorus and the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra and director Philippe Jordan. Comments by Luminiţa Arvunescu and her guest, musicologist Irina Paladi.

26^th July, 16:50-23:15. Tristan und Isolde/Tristan and Isolde with: Stephen Gould, René Pape, Petra Lang, Iain Paterson, Raimund Nolte, Christa Mayer, Tansel Akzeybek, Kay Stiefermann,the Bayreuth Festival Chorus and the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra and director Christian Thielemann.Comments by Luminiţa Arvunescu and her guest, musicologist Irina Paladi.

27^th July, 16:50-23:15. Parsifal with: Ryan McKinny, Karl-Heinz Lehner, Georg Zeppenfeld, Andreas Schager, Derek Walton, Elena Pankratova, Tansel Akzeybek, Timo Riihonen, Alexandra Steiner, Mareike Morr, Paul Kaufmann, Stefan Heibach, Netta Or, Katharina Persicke, Bele Kumberger, Sophie Rennert, Wiebke Lehmkuhl, the Bayreuth Festival Chorus and the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra and director Hartmut Haenchen. Comments by Irina Cristina Vasilescu and her guest, composer Matei Gheorghiu. During the intermission, interviews with His Excellency Tamar Samash, Israel's Ambassador to Bucharest and Lucian Sinigaglia, researcher specialized in the history of opera performances.

29^th July, 18:50-22:00 Das Rheingold /The Rhinegold with: Iain Peterson, Markus Eiche, Daniel Behle, Roberto Saccà, Tanja Ariane Baumgartner, Caroline Wenborne, Nadine Weissmann, Albert Dohmen, Andreas Conrad, Günther Groissböck, Karl-Heinz Lehner, Alexandra Steier, Stephanie Houtzeel, Wiebke Lehmkuhl, the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra and director Marek Janowski. Comments by Anca Ioana Andriescu. During the intermission, interview with director Camil Marinescu.

30^th July, 16:50-23:00 Die Walküre/The Valkyrie with: Christopher Ventris, Georg Zeppenfeld, John Lundgren, Camilla Nylund, Catherine Foster, Tanja Ariane Baumgartner, Caroline Wenborne, Dara Hobbs, Stephanie Houtzeel, Nadine Weissmann, Christiane Kohl, Mareike Morr, Simone Schröder, Alexandra Petersamer, the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra and director Marek Janowski. Comments by Anca Ioana Andriescu.

1^st August, 16:50-23:15 Siegfried with: Stefan Vinke, Andreas Conrad, Thomas J. Mayer, Albert Dohmen, Karl-Heinz Lehner, Nadine Weissmann, Catherine Foster, Ana Durlovski, the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra and director Marek Janowski. Comments by Irina Cristina Vasilescu.

3^rd August, 16:50-23:30 Götterdämmerung/Twilight of the Gods, with: Stefan Vinke, Markus Eiche, Stephen Milling, Albert Dohmen, Catherine Foster, Allison Oakes, Marina Prudenskaya, Wiebke Lehmkuhl, Stephanie Houtzeel, Christiane Kohl, Alexandra Steiner, the Bayreuth Festival Chorus and the Bayreuth Festival Orchestra and director Marek Janowski. Comments by Anca Ioana Andriescu.