After thirteen years in Baden-Baden, the Berliner Philharmoniker will return to the Salzburg Easter Festival in 2026, reconnecting with the event it originally founded under Herbert von Karajan in 1967. The residency will open a new chapter with a new staging of Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen, conducted by chief conductor Kirill Petrenko.
The project will begin with Das Rheingold, marking the start of a complete Ring cycle over several years. The production will be staged by Russian director Kirill Serebrennikov, with baritone Christian Gerhaher making his debut as Wotan. According to the festival, Serebrennikov and his team aim to transform the Ring into a myth-making mystery that brings together artists from different cultures.
The Ring has been a part of Petrenko’s life since the early years of his career, and he has already conducted productions at the Meiningen State Theatre, the Bayreuth Festival and the Bavarian State Opera.
In 2028, the cycle will be interrupted by a staging of Arnold Schoenberg’s Moses und Aron, which has never been performed at the Salzburg Easter Festival.
The programme for 2026 also includes Mahler’s Eighth Symphony, led by Petrenko. Other concerts feature Daniel Harding conducting Haydn’s Die Schöpfung and Tugan Sokhiev leading Berlioz’s Symphonie fantastique, Brahms’s Double Concerto (with Noah Bendix-Balgley and Bruno Delepelaire), and Bruch’s Violin Concerto No. 1 with Janine Jansen, this year’s recipient of the Herbert von Karajan Prize.
A press conference with Petrenko, Nikolaus Bachler, Andrea Zietzschmann, and members of the orchestra’s board is scheduled for early September 2025 in Salzburg.
In parallel with the main stage events, the orchestra will continue its educational and outreach work through chamber music concerts and projects such as the Be Phil Orchestra, which will bring together amateur musicians from Austria and neighbouring countries to rehearse and perform with members of the Berliner Philharmoniker.
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