THE GREAT OPERAS IN BREGENZ AND VIENNA

The summer of the Wiener Symphoniker has belonged to the Bregenz Festival since 1946, where the musicians serve as Orchestra in Residence. In 2026, the festival celebrates its 80th anniversary with a major programme. Highlights include a spectacular new open-air production of Giuseppe Verdi’s opera classic La Traviata. Damiano Michieletto will stage the story of love and death of Violetta Valéry, with Kirill Karabits and Pietro Rizzo conducting this summer highlight. In the Festival Theatre, meanwhile, Leoš Janáček’s rarely performed satirical work The Excursions of Mr. Brouček will be presented in a production by US reinterpretation artist Yuval Sharon, conducted by Robert Jindra.

During the season, the MusikTheater an der Wien serves as the opera venue of the Wiener Symphoniker. Here, the orchestra will let the musical spray of Richard Wagner’s The Flying Dutchman surge through this season’s programme - the tragic epic of a sailor in search of true love. Star opera director Philipp Stölzl will stage the work. Stefan Herheim, artistic director of the MusikTheater an der Wien, will bring Beethoven’s opera of love Leonore (in its 1805/06 version) to the stage, with Lithuanian conductor Giedrė Šlekytė at the podium.

Modern yet accessible, the family opera The Little Prince by Pierangelo Valtinoni tells its magical story of the little prince, the fox and the rose. Louisa Muller will stage the production, conducted by Gábor Káli.