Production Photos from the Bayreuth Festival's Götterdämmerung

After the excellently sung, superbly conducted, and rather warmly received Rheingold, Walküre, and Siegfried, the last of the tetralogy’s operas, Götterdämmerung, felt like a triumph. Never mind the boos, when Castorf came out, which were eventually overtaken by the counter-bravos… the show was grand, the singing just about as good as it can be possibly wished, the orchestra continued very nearly at the impossibly high standards set by the Rheingold, and the hours just flew by. Even the usually interminable first act was enthralling throughout, and maybe for the first time no one minded Waltraute (Claudia Mahnke) waltzing on stage late in the game to prolong matters by chatting with her sister for seemingly forever...

Full review on Forbes.com. Click on excerpted images below to find a higher resolution version of the full picture.

All images courtesy Bayreuth Festival, © Enrico Nawrath