Richard Wagner: PARSIFAL

Conductor: Asher Fisch

Director: Philipp M. Krenn
Set design: Heike Vollmer
Costumes: Regine Standfuss
Light: Stefan Schlagbauer
Video: Thomas Achitz

Amfortas: Gerald Finley
Titurel: Martin Snell
Gurnemanz: John Relyea
Parsifal: Jonas Kaufmann
Kundry: Irene Roberts

Orchestra and Chorus of the Tiroler Festspiele Erl

The new production of the [title], which was released to great acclaim in 2025, Parsifal Philipp M. Krenn returns again in 2027. As in the first year of the production, the title role is played by the artistic director himself, Jonas Kaufmann, once again accompanied by an impressive Kundry, who was already one of the festival’s major artistic highlights in 2025: Irene Roberts. The mezzo-soprano will take on another major role in the summer of 2027, namely that of Isolde. Another reunion in Parsifal It also features Georg Nigl, the acclaimed Klingsor from 2025.

Team

Asher Fisch Conductor

Asher Fisch is Chief Conductor of the West Australian Symphony Orchestra and has been Music Director of the Tiroler Festspiele in Erl since the beginning of the 2024/25 season. He is internationally recognized as one of the leading conductors and has an extensive repertoire that covers both opera and concert areas. He began his career as an assistant to Daniel Barenboim and as a conductor at the Berlin State Opera. Since then, he has conducted at major European opera houses, including Vienna, Milan, Munich, Paris and Madrid. As an acknowledged Wagner specialist, Fisch has recorded two complete "Ring" cycles as well as "Tristan und Isolde". In addition, he has intensively studied the Italian repertoire and recently released a Puccini album together with tenor Jonas Kaufmann, the new Artistic Director of the Tiroler Festspiele Erl.

As a concert conductor, Asher Fisch has led renowned US American and European orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic, the Chicago Symphony, the San Francisco Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Munich Philharmonic, the Orchestre National de France and the London Symphony Orchestra. Asher Fisch is also active as a pianist and can be experienced in piano concerts, with chamber music and as a song accompanist.

Philipp M. Krenn Director

Der österreichische Regisseur Philipp M. Krenn begann seine künstlerische Ausbildung als Solist bei den Wiener Sängerknaben. Nach einem Ingenieurstudium an der Technischen Universität Wien studierte er Schauspiel am Konservatorium Wien. Das Regiehandwerk erlernte er als Assistent und Mitarbeiter von Regisseuren wie Robert Carsen, David Alden, Christine Mielitz, Sven Eric Bechtolf, Simon Stone, Alvis Hermanis und Damiano Michieletto an Institutionen und Häusern wie den Salzburger Festspielen, der Semperoper Dresden, der Bayerischen Staatsoper in München, dem Teatro La Fenice in Venedig, dem Theater an der Wien, der Wiener Staatsoper, bei den Wiener Festwochen, der Berliner Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin und am Königlichen Theater in Kopenhagen. Mit Philipp Stölzl arbeitete er für Produktionen in Berlin, Baden-Baden, Bregenz und Amsterdam zusammen.

Zu Philipp M. Krenns eigenen Opernregiearbeiten gehören die österreichische Erstaufführung von Manfred Trojahns Orest im Museumsquartier sowie Ravels L’Heure espagnole und Poulencs Les mamelles de Tirésias in der Kammeroper am Theater an der Wien. Darüber hinaus inszenierte er u.a. Le nozze di Figaro am Staatstheater Meinigen, die deutschsprachige Erstaufführung von Eötvös’ Schlaflos an der Oper Graz und Valtinonis Pinocchio an der Volksoper Wien.

Heike Vollmer Set design

Heike Vollmer comes from Lower Saxony and lives in Berlin. She studied stage design at the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg. As an assistant at the Berliner Ensemble, she worked with Claus Peymann, George Tabori, Achim Freyer, Karl-Ernst Herrmann, Ulrike Ottinger and Jörg Immendorf, among others. In addition to collaborative work with Dominik Günther, György Vidovszky and Thomas Dannemann, she worked with director Philipp Stölzl on numerous theater and opera productions, including Frankenstein (Theater Basel, Hamburg State Opera), Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci (Salzburg Easter Festival, Semperoper Dresden), Gounod's Faust (Deutsche Oper Berlin, Aalto Music Theatre in Essen), Jan Dvořák's Der Phantast (Dresden State Theatre), Andrea Chénier (Bavarian State Opera in Munich), Jherek Bischoff's and Jan Dvořák's Andersen's Tales (Theater Basel), Rigoletto (Bregenz Festival) and Rusalka (Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam).

In collaboration with director and puppeteer Nikolaus Habjan, Tosca and other productions were created.

Regine Standfuss Costumes

Regine Standfuss studied stage and costume design at the University of the Arts in Berlin. She worked as an assistant at the Schaubühne Berlin, at the Teatro alla Scala in Milan and at the Salzburg Festival. Since 1996, she has been working as a freelance costume designer at international stages, including the Theater Basel, the Schauspielhaus Zürich, the Toneelgroep Amsterdam, the A.R.T. in Boston, the Dutch National Opera in Amsterdam, the National Theatre in The Hague, the Noord Nederlands Toneel, the National Theatre for Opera and Ballet Tirana, the Schauspiel Frankfurt, the Staatstheater Stuttgart, the Theater Bremen and the Opera Graz.

Regine Standfuss worked as a costume designer in the feature film German Angst directed by Jörg Buttgereit, Michael Kosakowski and Andreas Marschall. In the theatre and opera field, she works with directors such as Ola Mafaalani, Martin G. Berger, Thomas Dannemann, Michael Talke, Frank Hilbrich, Claudia Meyer and Christiane Pohle. She has a long-standing collaboration with director Philipp M. Krenn. In the current season, her costume designs can be seen, among others, at the Staatsschauspiel Dresden (Nathan der Weise) and at the Staatstheater Kassel (Katja Kabanowa).

Stefan Schlagbauer Light

Stefan Schlagbauer comes from Neuburg an der Donau. After his training as a specialist for event technology, he began working as a stage lighting technician at the Theater an der Wien. He then went to the Staatsoper Unter den Linden, where he has been employed as lighting master since the 2020/21 season. Stefan Schlagbauer was also responsible there for the lighting design of the music theater production Abstract Pieces by Manos Tsangaris and that for the chamber opera Thomas by Georg Friedrich Haas directed by Barbora Horákova. Stefan Schlagbauer also designed the lighting for the 2024 Austrian premiere of the opera Schlaflos by Péter Eötvös directed by Philipp M. Krenn at the Opera Graz.

Thomas Achitz Video

The Austrian-born Thomas Achitz studied film directing in Munich and gained experience on the set of film and television productions before completing a degree at the University of Art and Design Linz. Already during his training, he began working in 2012 at the Salzburg Festival in the media technology department, where he has been a member of the video team to this day.

Since 2019, he has been working closely with the video and film duo rocafilm as a live cameraman, editor and video designer and has participated in these functions in productions by Robert Carsen, Damiano Michieletto, Claus Guth, Rolando Villazón and others at the Salzburg Festival, the Vienna State Opera, the Teatro La Fenice in Venice, the Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona and the Teatro Massimo in Palermo. At the Salzburg Festival Pentecost 2024, Thomas Achitz was responsible for the video design of La clemenza di Tito. As a video designer, he worked with director Philipp M. Krenn on the German-language premiere of Peter Eötvös' Schlaflos at the Opera Graz. Further projects have taken him, among others, to the Schauspielhaus Graz and the Landestheater Linz. On the side, he works as a cameraman and editor on music video productions for bands such as Salò, Berglind or Mynth.

Gerald Finley Amfortas

Martin Snell Titurel

John Relyea Gurnemanz

Jonas Kaufmann Parsifal

Since his debut at the Metropolitan Opera New York in 2006, Jonas Kaufmann has been one of the top stars of classical music. After engagements in Saarbrücken, Stuttgart, Frankfurt, Hamburg and Milan, the tenor went to the Zurich Opera in 2001, from where his international career began with appearances at the Lyric Opera Chicago, the Paris Opera, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden in London, the Teatro alla Scala in Milan, the Deutsche Oper and Staatsoper in Berlin, the Vienna State Opera, as well as at the festivals in Salzburg and Bayreuth. He is internationally in demand in Italian and French repertoire as well as in German. He has sung Verdi's Otello in London, Munich and Naples, Massenet's Werther in Paris, Vienna and New York, Wagner's Lohengrin in Bayreuth, at La Scala, in Paris and Melbourne. From oratorios and operettas to Canzone napoletana and Viennese songs, he masters the entire spectrum of tenor repertoire and places great emphasis on versatility. He describes song singing as the "royal class of singing," which he cultivates with great success worldwide in artistic partnership with pianist Helmut Deutsch, most recently on an Asia tour.

Since September 2024, Jonas Kaufmann has been Artistic Director of the Tiroler Festspiele Erl. For the 100th anniversary of Giacomo Puccini's death, he undertook a concert tour in Europe in 2024. Further highlights of the current season include Pagliacci at the Vienna State Opera, a song tour with Diana Damrau and Helmut Deutsch, as well as Pagliacci at the Bavarian State Opera.

Jonas Kaufmann's recordings have been awarded numerous international prizes. He has been voted "Singer of the Year" several times, including by the trade journal Opernwelt, the classical magazines Diapason and Musical America as well as the juries of the International Opera Awards and Opus Klassik (formerly Echo Klassik).

Irene Roberts Kundry

Irene Roberts wurde in Sacramento (California, USA) geboren und studierte Gesang an der University of the Pacific und am Cleveland Institute of Music. Von 2015 bis 2024 war die Mezzosopranistin Mitglied des Opernensembles an der Deutschen Oper Berlin wo sie u.a. in Partien wie Marguerite (La damnation de Faust), Nicklausse (Les contes d’Hoffmann), Suzuki (Madama Butterfly), Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro), Rosina (Il barbiere di Siviglia), Brangäne (Tristan und Isolde) und als Carmen zu erleben war.

An der Metropolitan Opera in New York debütierte Irene Roberts 2012 in Le nozze di Figaro. Gastspiele führten sie in den letzten Spielzeiten u.a. nach Tokyo, Nandy, Dijon, Amsterdam, Venedig und Macerata. Sie pflegt eine enge Beziehung zur San Francisco Opera, wo sie 2013 in Les contes d’Hoffmann ihr Debüt gab. Als Venus (Tannhäuser) debütierte sie 2024 mit großem Erfolg bei den Bayreuther Festspielen. Als Brangäne sowie mit ihrem Rollendebüt als Eboli (Don Carlo) steht sie in der aktuellen Saison an der Deutschen Oper Berlin auf der Bühne. Die Partie der Kundry verkörperte sie bereits an der Staatsoper Hannover, der Bayerischen Staatsoper und der Deutschen Oper Berlin zu erleben. Neben ihrer regen Operntätigkeit ist die Mezzosopranistin als Konzertsängerin sehr gefragt.

Orchestra and Chorus of the Tiroler Festspiele Erl

Tiroler Festspiele Erl Orchestra

The music springs from the enthusiasm of a motivated and exceptionally well-prepared ensemble that has grown together over the years. The Tyrolean Festival Erl Orchestra was first formed in the summer of 1999—and today, musicians from 20 nations play together. Already in its first year, the ensemble achieved unprecedented success, which would go on to bring international recognition to the Tyrolean Festival Erl. Top young talents, musicians from major international orchestras, chamber music specialists, and lecturers come together annually in summer and winter—and since 2017, also in fall and spring—as part of the Tyrolean Festival Erl. Under the direction of festival founder Gustav Kuhn, the orchestra garnered rave reviews from international critics and cemented its reputation as one of the world’s finest Wagner orchestras. With the start of Jonas Kaufmann’s tenure as artistic director in September 2024, Asher Fisch—a conductor in high demand internationally in both opera and concert settings—has taken over the helm of the orchestra.

In addition to Richard Wagner’s ten major music dramas and operas by Strauss, Mozart, Beethoven, Verdi, and Rossini, the orchestra’s repertoire includes Beethoven’s symphonies and many other key works from the concert repertoire spanning the Baroque and Romantic periods, as well as contemporary works and world premieres.

Tiroler Festspiele Erl Choir

Founded in 2007, the choir serves as an equal musical partner to the festival orchestra. The focus is on meticulous attention to individual parts. As part of the festival, the singers work on a wide range of projects, from a cappella programs to concert and opera productions. Since the opening of the Festspielhaus Erl in 2012, the repertoire has placed additional emphasis on bel canto works and Verdi’s operas.

The development of a Baroque choral sound in the works of Bach and his contemporaries is also a key focus of the ensemble’s work; since 2009, it has maintained close ties with Capella Minsk, the State Academic Choir of the Republic of Belarus. Founded in 1940, this choral ensemble has made it its mission to preserve Belarusian folk music and to premiere works by modern and contemporary composers.

The choir is distinguished by its precise intonation, harmony, versatility, and dynamic sound—qualities that have formed the basis for numerous tours throughout Europe in recent years. Its repertoire includes requiems, masses, cantatas, and sacred works, as well as operas. After Lyudmila Yefimova spent many years developing and shaping the choir’s quality, Olga Yanum took over as the ensemble’s director following her death in 2018.