Festspielhaus, Bayreuth, 29 July 2026

Richard Wagner: Der fliegende Holländer

For the fifth time since 2021, Dimitri Tcherniakov’s production of Richard Wagner’s Der fliegende Holländer is being performed at this year’s Bayreuth Festival. It is in many ways a provocative staging, in which the Russian director deliberately breaks with tradition and avoids anything to do with ships and the sea. The plot is changed, characters are given new roles, and the ending of the opera is reshaped.

Already during the overture, an entirely new story is presented, with the Dutchman portrayed as a victim. His mother, a prostitute, is exploited by Daland and later commits suicide. The Dutchman has been nursing a desire for revenge, and when he finally returns to his hometown after many years, Daland and his family are to be punished. He drinks beer with Daland and the helmsman Erik at the local bar and slowly but surely works his way into Daland’s family circle. In this version, Senta does not spin thread, but instead weaves sounds together in the town’s women’s choir. Here Senta is a rebel, which provokes the choirmaster Mary, who in Tcherniakov’s version is also her mother or stepmother.

Senta sees the Dutchman as a way out of the boredom of her hometown and towards freedom somewhere else. Love begins to grow between them, while Erik warns her about the Dutchman’s evil intentions. Disaster comes in the final scene, where the director radically changes the familiar image of the opera. In the famous choral section, the Dutchman and his men brutally murder members of the local population in a terrorist attack. When he also attacks Senta, Mary steps forward and shoots him dead. Senta then does not commit suicide, as she usually does, but embraces her stepmother and sinks down onto the chair. Was this her ticket to a new life, or what awaits her in the future?

Despite all the liberties Tcherniakov takes, his production is on the whole very successful, even if the lack of sea and ships creates some anachronisms between what we see on stage and what we hear in the music and text. There is a real theatrical energy to the production, and the opera’s forward-moving action and ending become grippingly dramatic. It is like experiencing the opera for the first time.

Another important reason for the success of the performance is the impressive work of the Bayreuth Festival chorus and orchestra. The brilliant interpretation by Ukrainian conductor Oksana Lyniv stands out. The storm is already raging in the overture, and the passions run high. Lyniv gives Der fliegende Holländer both great drama and refined elegance, showing what a gifted opera conductor she is.

Vocally, the performance is of a high standard, with Norwegian soprano Elisabeth Teige particularly impressive as a defiant and broken Senta on stage. This is far removed from the more familiar image of Senta as dreamy and naive. Teige has a powerful voice that carries over the Wagner orchestra, although her interpretation could have been a little more nuanced.

Nicholas Brownlee’s Dutchman is also vocally dramatic, although here too the final touch of sensitivity is perhaps missing. In this production, he also takes something of a step back, with Senta placed more in the spotlight. In its own way, the staging loses some of the character’s diabolical and mysterious qualities. Mika Kares is very impressive as the calculating Daland, who in this production is also abusive towards women. Benjamin Bruns performs Erik with great dramatic commitment, although at times the lyrical side of the role could have been brought out more in the sound of his voice.

After the performance, the audience erupted in cheers, with no boos for either the singers or the production. The Bayreuth audience seems to have grown accustomed to Dimitri Tcherniakov’s innovative Der fliegende Holländer, and the performance itself must surely be seen as an example of the festival at its best.