As the epicentre of Wagnerian culture, Bayreuth has long relied on re-examination, reinvention and bold ideas to keep Richard Wagner’s legacy alive.

This year marks another milestone, with a landmark production of his third opera, Rienzi – one of three works excluded from the canon of 10 operas regularly performed at the purpose-built Festspielhaus – included in the program’s 150th anniversary celebrations.

Co-directed and designed by Alexandra Szemerédy and Magdolna Parditka, it is a glowing achievement in Bayreuth’s evolving history for what is intended to be its only appearance.

Rienzi. Photo © Enrico Nawrath / Bayreuther Festspiele

Completed in 1840, around the same time as The Flying Dutchman, Rienzi, despite its early success, was later regarded by Wagner as a youthful work unfit to represent his artistic ideals.

Indeed, it has its flaws, primarily in its dramatic pacing and abundance of compositional ideas that sometimes struggle to cohere, particularly across the first two of its five acts. Nevertheless, the score – clocking in at almost four hours in this edition – bursts with exhilarating intensity, with the massive Bayreuth Festival Chorus often taking centre stage in an array of roles alongside the requisite...