Coronavirus may have put the kibosh on the majority of the European summer festivals, but that’s not stopping Bayreuth. The annual Wagner-Fest has teamed up with the German label Deutsche Grammophon to come up with a virtual festival that pretty much replicates its abandoned 2020 program. Running on DG’s brand-new digital platform – DG Stage: The Classical Concert Hall – a whole host of events will be available to stream from now until August 29.

Barrie Kosky’s staging of Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg. Photo © Enrico Nawrath

“This unique event means so much to so many people around the world, which is why we are delighted to be able to collaborate with DG and present our full festival programme online to a global audience this summer,” said Heinz-Dieter Sense, Managing Director of the Bayreuth Festival in the accompanying press release.

Out of a total program of 16 evenings, four of the works scheduled for the 2020 Festival – Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg, Tannhäuser, Lohengrin and Der Ring des Nibelungen – will be streamed online in recent Bayreuth stagings on the same day and at the same time as it was originally intended to have...